The Hole
by firsttry
Summary: Merlin and Arthur have to solve a mystery and save their world they travel to places they have never seen and meet people they have never even imagined meeting. AN: Later in the story crossovers are planned (yes, more than one) but since I could only select two If I chose to label this as crossover I'd rather not offend any TV show and just call it a Merlin story. :)
1. Chapter 1

Merlin ran. The houses flashed past him but he just kept running – there was no way he was going to be too late. He had worked too hard to miss it.

Gaius came out of one house and stopped. He had never seen Merlin run so fast. "My boy! Is something wrong?" he shouted after his ward but it was too late. Merlin had already speeded past, not sparing a glance in his mentor's and friend's direction.

He left behind a cloud of dust. With the help of his magic he was running a bit faster than would be normally possible. But the townspeople had already gotten used to their one special member – nobody batted an eye at Merlin doing something out of ordinary. And no one actually cared how he did it – magic was not outlawed, in fact, most people didn't even believe it had ever really existed and had just laughed when their king announced that magic is welcomed in his kingdom. Some even gossiped that the king had gone a bit mad in the head, what with him spending so much time with "the strange boy from Ealdor who ran into old doors" as they good naturedly called Merlin. And they couldn't have thought of a better nickname because Merlin really often ran into doors in his hurry. And he always seemed to be in hurry.

But this time was different – he ran like the wind. Still, the townspeople, while at first registering this change, soon put it down to just another of his peculiarities. They didn't care how he ran – they knew he was a good lad who was always ready to help. And they were ready to help him – if he ever asked. But he never did, and that made the townspeople respect him even more and helped them understand why their king wanted to be around him so much. In fact, they were pretty sure Merlin was running to his king right now.

But they were wrong, the last thing on Merlin's mind right now was Arthur. Sure, Arthur still was on his mind but right now he had been pushed in some compartment near the thoughts about dogs and Gaius's potions. In short, he wasn't at the forefront of Merlin's mind as the warlock rushed through the town. He had a life besides Arthur and this concerned his "other life" as he had deemed it in his head.

So he ran even quicker, making sure not to disturb the people, or the animals, or even the plants. Merlin believed in everything having a purpose so, even though the plant on the ground might have seemed worthless to someone else, he saw it's potential. The young warlock imagined that the plant could one day be discovered to hold the key to curing some horrible disease or just taste good in tea. Whatever the case, he was careful not to step on it.

While he thought about the possible uses of the red flower he almost squished, he had inadvertently slowed down. "This won't do" he thought. "I have to focus if I want to make it." So he pulled his thoughts away from the plant and focused on the road ahead. He was almost there. "I just have to run past this curve in the road and then turn left and I'm there!" he thought in joy and let out a happy squeak.

"Rushing somewhere?" a voice stopped him as he started to turn into the curve. "You didn't think I would let you do this alone, did you _Mer_lin?" the voice mocked with no ill intention. It was Arthur. He stood propped against a nearby tree and looked at his friend disapprovingly.

Merlin broke into a smile. "I wanted to go and get you but there was no time. There is no time now either, so hurry up if you want to come, royal clotpole." he made an exaggerated bow and rushed past, taking his king by the hand like a child.

Arthur tried to protest but found himself unable to. He knew how much Merlin had waited and worked for this and if the only way for him to be there too was by being dragged like an insolent child, then so be it.

They rushed further and finally turned left. A magnificent view opened to their eyes. Plants of every colour encompassed a beautiful pond. The moment was perfect – Merlin had somehow used his magic to make all the flowers turn into butterflies at the same time. Merlin had rushed here all the way, so he still had some time to get comfortable and take out the mirror he always kept in his pocket. "Gaius, watch this and get ready to be amazed" he said to it and put it on the grass beside himself. Then he started to watch the change – each flower bloomed fully, opened its petals as wide as it could and then slowly closed them. Then the motion repeated again, faster and faster, making the petals look more alive with each move until the sky was cowered with butterflies of every colour and the rest of the flower retreated into the ground with a small puff of colour. Everything was reflected in the pond, making the effect double. Arthur watched in awe while Merlin was grinning from ear to ear.

But that wasn't all that Merlin had planned. Arthur looked at his friend and saw a change in the warlock's eyes – there was no more relief at making it in time, now it was replaced with expectancy. So Arthur dragged his attention back to the butterflies.

They were flying in a circle in the sky, reminding Arthur of a day in winter when the nearby lake had frozen over and everyone had gone to skate it. Then too everyone without really meaning to had made a large moving circle. The little insects started to turn faster and faster and the circle started to change till the butterflies flied in the shape of a large butterfly. Merlin started jumping up and down, he was overcome with excitement. "I did it! This is going to be great!" he shouted and turned to Arthur. "Watch this; it's going to be amazing!"

The king still had no idea what Merlin was up to. So all he could do was watch silently as Merlin approached the giant butterfly. "What are you doing?" was all he could say as Merlin was lifted into air. His jaw dropped when he saw that Merlin now looked like some mutant butterfly. "How does it look?" he asked completely calm while Arthur on the ground was still in shock.

"Pretty impressive. For what is basically just an oversized insect" Arthur said trying to regain his pride.

"Can I try?" the king asked, his curiosity overcoming the need to retain his pride.

Merlin laughed. "Well, you could, if you had eaten less in all those feasts."

Arthur blushed, he knew he had a problem but damn it, he was the king and food was tasty. Still, he really wanted to try flying when he saw Merlin floating around, doing loops in the air, and flying close to the king but just out of reach, just to annoy him.

Then he got an idea, he was the king; he could do what he wanted. And _Merlin_ certainly couldn't stop him. "I order you as your king to let me try flying with the butterflies!" as soon as the words had left his lips he saw the fatal flaw – he sounded ridiculous, not commanding.

Apparently, Merlin thought so too, as he started laughing and barely got enough breath back to say "Sure, my butterfly king, but–"but he couldn't continue, as he had again doubled over laughing.

Arthur looked exasperated – he knew he had earned another nickname with which Merlin would tease him endlessly. He fondly recalled the old times when Merlin had just called him a prat.

Meanwhile Merlin had stopped laughing for long enough to eke out "But I advise you to float above the pond, so that if the king turns out to be too heavy for his tiny, fragile subjects he ends up in the safety of water, not lying on the cold hard grass." Merlin again doubled over at his own words.

Arthur definitely didn't appreciate being made fun of but the want to try flying was too big and he just let it slide, content with exacting his revenge at some later time.

So he looked sternly at Merlin who would have tripped when his feet touched the ground, clumsy as he was, if some butterflies hadn't helped out and steadied him. Arthur smirked, he still had plenty of stuff to use against Merlin for his extended butterfly king joke. But that had to wait. Right now the butterflies waited for him.

Arthur stepped forward and got the sudden uneasy feeling that he had started to feel when he became sure he would do this. But he overcame it by reminding himself that he was a king and even if he were in danger, Merlin would save him, like he always did. Arthur looked at his friend, last bits of joking gone from both of their eyes. Their eyes met and the absolute trust they had in each other was there, as always. At once all Arthur's fear was gone and he stepped towards the big butterfly confidently and closed his eyes.

He felt them grab his every inch and when his feet left the ground he opened his eyes. Looking down he saw the pond, grateful that his friend was providing him some security, as he knew that, while the butterflies flew more or less where they wanted, Merlin had some power over them. And he had apparently used this power to give Arthur a nature's safety net.

Feeling safe with the pond below him Arthur fully relished in the feeling of flying. He flew higher and higher, intent on looking at the village from above. He saw the castle, Gaius's house, the town square. The view was breath-taking, he felt freedom and pride, and all his worries disappeared. That is, they had disappeared until he felt some butterflies lose hold of him. Looking around he saw that the big butterfly wings had lost their colour and butterflies were disappearing one by one in alarming rate. He looked at the ground in panic – it was extremely far away. If he fell from this height even the pond would not save him.

All he could do was hope Merlin had a plan. And that it was a good one because he felt even more butterflies disappearing.


	2. Chapter 2

As Arthur noticed the change in the butterflies so did Merlin. At first he was confused – his beautiful butterflies weren't supposed to look so grey. But as he searched his mind for what could have gone wrong with his carefully planned and timed spell an even more frightening view caught his eye. He saw the tiny creatures disappearing one by one. Immediately all his thoughts turned to saving his friend. He thought as quickly as he could at the same time willing the winged carriers to slowly move closer to earth. How he now regretted trying to impress Arthur by showing him how high the butterflies could carry him!

"No time for regret! I have to save Arthur!" he thought with conviction. He looked at the surroundings. Even though the remaining butterflies fought hard to make the descent slower, their number was decreasing even faster. The pond was still too far away and if the creatures let go of Arthur now he would surely die on impact. If he tried to catch Arthur himself he would break his arms and they would both probably die. Merlin needed more time to think. So his magic worked on instinct – the world slowed down until it was almost standing still. Arthur was safe for now.

But Merlin knew he could not keep time stopped for long – it drained him and if he was exhausted it would be more difficult to save Arthur when time started going again – and it certainly would happen soon. Still, he had bought himself some time to think.

So Merlin looked around for some soft things to break the fall. There were some trees, bushes and grass. That was it. Merlin cursed himself, why couldn't he have made sure the place where he would FLOAT IN THE AIR WITH THE HELP OF BUTTERFLIES – ONE OF THE MOST FRAGILE CREATURES IN THE WORLD – was safer. "Stop it, concentrate!" he told himself.

"If only I could actually stop the fall, if only Arthur could really fly!" he thought desperately. Then his own words sparked an idea in his mind. It was a bit crazy and Arthur would not be happy but at least he would still be alive and able to get angry!

With the time still stopped Merlin tried to recall a spell he had learned long ago, when he and the then prince were reluctant allies, not the best friends they were now.

"Bebiede þe arisan cwicum." he said hoping that the spell would work as he intended it to, not how it was originally used. Sure, the change was small but it could mean the difference between life and death for the king. All he could do now was hope for the best and wish the clotpole understood what he was trying to do.

Merlin released his hold on the time. He closed his eyes, not daring to look up.

The next thing he heard was a soft thud next to him. Then he felt a grateful hug. And lastly, a smack on the head. Opening his eyes he saw a happy, grateful but quite angry and embarrassed king in front of him.

"Well, I would say thank you for saving me but two things keep me from doing it." Arthur said looking his friend straight in the eye.

"Are those things connected with you being a clotpole and a prat?" Merlin tried to joke and get the attention away from what he had done.

"No, Merlin, that is impossible, as I'm neither of those things." Arthur replied through his teeth. Merlin saw that his tactic had failed and tried to run but the king grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Where are you hurrying off to? You still have to hear what I have to say." he said menacingly.

"I think I heard Gaius call me." Merlin attempted another escape.

"Gaius can wait. I have to tell you the reasons, I'm sure you want to hear them" Arthur flashed a fake and intimidating smile Merlin's way. "The first reason is because I wouldn't have been in danger if you hadn't put me there." he continued.

"But you wanted to fly and see your kingdom from above." Merlin squeaked.  
Arthur thought for a moment and agreed "Fine, maybe it was partly my fault. But the second reason is all on you _Mer_lin."

Merlin said quietly "It was either this or death and I had little time to think. I'm sure you're happy to be alive" he tried to turn the situation in his favour.

"Sure, I'm grateful to be alive! But I can't with my whole heart say ""Job well done", Merlin." Arthur answered having heard the quiet but reasonable remark. "Because you didn't have to literary turn me into a butterfly king!" he continued and gestured to the two large wings coming out from his back. "This is what taking a joke too far means, Merlin!" Arthur tried to stay angry but after saying the words "butterfly king" all his anger had disappeared. He tried to keep the smile from his face but it was too hard.

Merlin saw the king's struggle and knew he was off the hook. So he allowed himself a smile. "Would you like to take the wings off, your royal butterfly highness, or would you prefer to parade through the city in your full glory?" he tested the waters with a joke.

"Just get them off, Merlin" Arthur tried to stay serious but failed when his words were interrupted by the sound of wind swishing around his glorious wings.

The two friends laughed until they could take no more and finally Merlin said. "A shame, really, they suit you. And you would be able to fly whenever you please."

Arthur snorted "Yeah, and attract even more attention than I do now – you know how I can rarely step outside of the castle without crowds following me and trying to get me to allow them to paint my portrait and then sign it."

"They would get some great paintings from this." Merlin laughed and stilled. He started searching around frantically. "Where is my mirror?" he asked no one in particular.

"Isn't that it?" Arthur pointed at a shining object on the edge of the pond. Merlin jumped to keep it from falling in and grabbed it.

"Yes! It was pointed to the sky, so Gaius saw everything, even the butterflies disappearing!" he exclaimed in triumph.

Arthur just watched a bit offended "You mean to say you were contacting Gaius while I was in mortal danger?"

"Hey, you're alive, no complaints. And I dropped the mirror as soon as I saw you were in danger." Merlin quickly explained. "Now stop wasting time, let's go to Gaius, maybe he can explain what the heck happened to my beautiful creatures." He stood up and tried to get Arthur to go with him. But the king wouldn't budge.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked with his best Gaius impression, complete with the raised eyebrow.

"No, what? Let's go" Merlin just hurried.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe MY BUTTERFLY WINGS?" Arthur said frantically gesturing to his back which was still decorated with colourful wings.

"Oh, right. You sure you don't want to keep them?" Merlin asked.

"Pretty sure, completely sure, I definitely have no doubts." Arthur said.

"Ok fine, but don't regret it later. Níwe edhwierft" he simply said and the large wings burst into small butterflies. But the butterflies quickly lost their colour and started to disappear one by one. Both friends watched in shock.

"Use the mirror!" Arthur urged and Merlin complied. He turned the mirror away from himself and kept it focused there till the last of the butterflies were gone. "Gaius, I hope you saw this. We are coming to meet you." Merlin said, having turned the mirror to his face. Then he put it in his pocket and turned to his king.

Both young men looked at each other and with the same thought in mind "We have to talk to Gaius right now, something is seriously wrong." rushed out of the clearing and into the streets of the town, moving as fast as they could without alarming the inhabitants.


	3. Chapter 3

Gaius was sitting at his desk wondering about what Merlin would do now that his project had apparently finished when the subject of his thoughts rushed in with a rather spooked looking king.

"What is the matter? Can't you spend a day without getting in trouble? What is it this time? Another goblin loose in the castle because you can't resist opening a closed chest, Merlin? Or another problem with some kind of curse because you act before you think, Arthur?" Gaius cut right to the case. He knew the two like the back of his hand and could certainly vow that they got into trouble more often than his hand shook another. Which was quite surprising because with the king and the court sorcerer one would expect them to be more serious. Sure, they always saved the kingdom in the end but when there was no danger it seemed like they needed it because they always went looking for it.

"No nothing like that. Didn't you see what I was showing you in the mirror? If you saw you know that this was definitely not our fault." Merlin explained and Arthur bobbed his head up and down in agreement.

"Of course I saw, the butterflies were wonderful – when I could see them, that is." Gaius couldn't help but praise his ward where praise was due but still sounded a bit irritated.

Merlin smiled at the compliment and was going to thank Gaius when he was interrupted.

"But the mirror was facing the sky, not the grass! Surely you saw what happened, didn't you?" Arthur asked in confusion.

"Sure, it was facing the sky, a rather beautiful sky, if I might say so – no clouds in sight. And no butterflies in sight either. All I saw was the flowers turning into butterflies and the butterflies flying in circle and forming one giant butterfly. After that it was just blue skies." The old man said looking at Merlin and Arthur.

Merlin had the courtesy to feel guilty "The mirror must have moved when I started jumping..." he quietly explained.

"Never mind that, it's unfortunate that you didn't see it but I guess our explanations and drawing skills will have to do." Arthur interrupted, eager to solve the mystery.

After the friends had explained everything to Gaius with the help of many drawings and hand gestures he sighed. "This is bad." he said. "I will have to do a lot of research to find out what is wrong."

But Arthur had had an idea – maybe the disappearance of butterflies was only a small part of a bigger mystery. "Have you seen anything else unusual happening in the city lately? Maybe there is some clue to solving this riddle." he said.

Gaius squinted his eyes. "Now that I think about it, people have been coming to me saying their pets have disappeared."

"That's it? That's not unusual, that's what pets do if you don't take care of them." Arthur said a bit disappointed. He had expected something more impressive..

"The fact is not the weird thing." Gaius continued. "They all disappeared in one area – the small area of trees behind the castle. One moment they had just played fetch and whatever kind of game people play with their cats in the woods –" Gaius had never been particularly interested in animals – he found humans much more interesting – that's why he chose to be a doctor, not a vet, though he had been gifted in both areas. The townspeople still remembered this and, contrary to the wishes of the old man, came to him with their pet problems.

"– and the next they ran into one particular bush and never came out." Gaius continued after masterful suspense pause.

"A bush? Then why haven't any people gone missing? Wouldn't they run after their pets?" Merlin was more versed in the particularities of keeping a pet – when he was living in Ealdor he had had a big dog Digy, called that because of the activity he loved. Unfortunately, a horse had trampled him on accident. Merlin had felt sad and given the dog a proper burial – complete with a small boat burning on a river.

"Well, as soon as people saw that their pets weren't coming back they surely tried to go to the bush. But a horrible smell repelled them and they wanted someone else to examine it. Namely – me." Gaius explained.

"And did you?" both Arthur and Merlin asked in unison.

"Of course not. If a person had gone missing, I would go. But a turtle? No reason to be alarmed, pets get lost all the time. I thought it would be better to wait and see if they didn't return on their own." Gaius said.

"Well, we will definitely go and see for ourselves what is happening there, thank you Gaius!" and the two high standing officials of the kingdom ran out like two little boys who have just found their new adventure.

"Wait, you don't know where the bush is!" Gaius called after them but it was too late, they were already gone.

When Merlin and Arthur reached the small forest it was deserted. Since the news about the missing pets had spread around no one dared to spend time there. As if the fear wasn't enough, the stench had grown stronger and was covering the whole park now.

"How are we going to find this stinky bush if the whole park smells like rotten eggs?" Arthur asked Merlin because he was expecting Merlin to come up with an idea like he had done many times before. And the ideas were always quick to come and very good, he had to admit. So he was a bit surprised when Merlin scrunched his face and said "I can't think in this stink. Give me something to stuff my nose with."

Arthur agreed, the stink was incredible but it was just a stink, it wasn't like they could die from it. Could they?

Regardless of the doubts seeping in his mind Arthur passed Merlin some paper napkins he always carried with him because he was the king and kings can't be seen with runny noses.

Having stuffed their noses they continued until they realized what mistake they had done. If the bush was the first one that smelled then they could surely recognise it because it would stink worse than anything else around, worse enough to contaminate the whole forest. But now they had stuffed their noses and couldn't smell anything.

"Which one of us will sacrifice his sense of smell and possibly health?" Merlin asked.

Arthur pointed at him "Your actions almost got me killed today and you gave me butterfly wings – you may have the honour of enjoying the air here fully." Merlin saw there was no point in arguing – he knew if he tried to do so he would just prolong their stay here. The warlock already suspected that he would have to burn his clothes when he got home – he didn't want to let the smell seep into his skin too – it would be impossible to get off.

So Merlin took out the paper and was immediately assaulted by the foul stench. Still, he worked through it and determined the direction where it was stronger. They moved in that direction until they came upon a bush that had no colours.

"We could have just looked for a bush that looks different, I didn't need to put up with the smell." Merlin groaned.

"Well, you live and you learn, Merlin. Nothing to do about it now. Since I'm the butterfly king now you're the sorcerer of stink" Arthur laughed.

"Your wit is without a match. Did it take you the whole walk here to come up with that?" Merlin retorted.

"Come on, stink master, let's look at the bush" Arthur changed the subject rather suspiciously. Merlin wondered if it really had taken the king so long – the words were simple, it should've been the first joke that jumped into head. But then he realized – it would be the first joke if Arthur saw him just as a sorcerer. Arthur saw them as two friends, not a king and his sorcerer – he saw them as equals – so he needed more time to come up with the joke.

A bit embarrassed by the realization of how highly Arthur thought of him and eager to change the direction of his thoughts Merlin turned his attention towards the bush. It looked healthy, the only thing wrong was the absence of colours.

"Let's see what's behind it?" he asked his king.

"Yes, but don't touch it, maybe it's contagious." Arthur looked worried.

"If it was contagious you would have lost colour long ago – the butterflies, remember? From about an hour ago?" Merlin raised his eyebrows.

"Of course I remember, idiot. But the butterflies didn't stink, so maybe this is some mutation that is contagious." Arthur smacked him lightly.

"Ok, I'll take this stick and spread the leaves. Ready?" Merlin asked holding a long branch.

"Ready!" Arthur answered and took his fighting stance with another branch in his hand. How sorry he was that he had forgotten his sword at the castle.

Merlin spread the leaves and his jaw dropped in surprise. Arthur dropped his branch. Both of them just stood there and look at the thing. Was it a thing? They weren't sure. They just gazed at whatever had been hidden by the leaves.


	4. Chapter 4

"What is it?" Arthur asked unable to tear his eyes away. Even the smell and the paper stuffed in his nose was forgotten. Both friends just stood there mesmerized.

"I don't know. But it's beautiful." Merlin said and started to reach towards the bush. Arthur's hand stopped him.

"Are you crazy? We don't know what it does! What if it kills you! Or turns you into a butterfly?" Arthur said fighting the urge to touch it himself. He took the paper out from his nose – the stink was non-existent in his mind, it was filled with the beautiful thing.

"You're right. Let's contact Gaius. Maybe he knows something about this." Merlin replied and reached for his mirror.

Meanwhile in his house Gaius sat at his desk examining the pictures that Arthur had drawn. On the desk he kept a book of magic, containing most, or as much as one book could hold, descriptions of spells and creatures. "Quite extraordinary!" he exclaimed to himself and picked up the picture showing a half disappeared butterfly. He took a magnifying glass and tried to see whatever he could make out regardless of it being just a drawing; maybe Arthur had subconsciously drawn some important detail. His actions were interrupted by a loud shout. Startled, he stood up and started searching for the source of the sound. His search led him to the living room where the mirror could be heard the best. But it still couldn't be seen. "Damn mirrors, how I miss the days when one needed a special stationary pond made of clay to contact other sorcerers." he grumbled in dissatisfaction and finally found it with the help of a spell. "Iewan searuwrenc sunscín" he murmured and the leaves that were thrown on a chair spread and showed the mirror at the bottom – Merlin was still shouting in it.

"I'm listening, Merlin. What did you find?" he picked up the mirror.

"Gaius, how many times do I have to tell you to keep your mirror by your side all the time. I almost lost my voice." the young man expressed his disapproval. Gaius just raised his eyebrow.

"Anyway, don't mind Merlin. We wanted to tell you that we found the bush and it's pretty amazing. Sure, now the whole forest stinks, not just the bush but the thing behind it… Gaius, it's wonderful." Arthur had grabbed the mirror from Merlin and tried to steer the conversation in the right direction but got distracted.

So Merlin grabbed it back. "The bush is completely colourless. But the thing behind it…." And he too lost the concentration and started to gaze at it.

Gaius was very confused. Sure, the two youngsters were adventurous but they had always kept themselves focused during their adventures. Gaius knew Merlin had seen some weird things in their journeys but they had never been so distracted. That is, until now. This sounded like something quite special. He made a decision – the drawings would wait, he wanted to see it for himself.

"Just wait there and don't touch anything." he quickly said into the mirror, put it down on the desk and rushed out of the house.

As Gaius moved towards them Merlin and Arthur each tried to stop the other from touching the thing. They were quite successful and it wasn't long till they heard a horse galloping their way.

Then they heard the horse stopping and saw Gaius runing towards them. The old man was out of breath when he reached the young men.

"Show me," he said trying to catch his breath.

Merlin pointed toward the bush and Gaius saw it. In the middle, where the branches and roots of the bush should have been was a human sized hole. But the hole wasn't like any normal hole. It floated in the air, was completely vertical and, most of all, its border shined in every possible colour.

"Well, it's really pretty, that is for sure, but I don't understand why you are so mesmerized – it's just a hole." Gaius scratched his head. He felt a bit disappointed at himself – he should have known better. "Well, that's what life is like –" he thought " – you build up your expectations and in the end all you get is a hole, admittedly, a weird hole, but a hole nonetheless."

Arthur and Merlin looked very confused. "Don't you feel the constant need to touch the hole?" they asked in one voice.

"No, not a bit. Perhaps the hole is meant for you – maybe that's why you are drawn to it. I mean, for goodness sakes, how have you endured this horrible smell all this time? I just got here and I want to leave already!" Gaius tried to find an explanation quickly so he could leave and get back to his house to burn his clothes.

"Well, if it's calling us maybe we should answer the calling?" Merlin proposed.

"I really want to but who would rule the kingdom while I'm gone? And are we sure we could get back?" Arthur had his doubts.

"Arthur, seriously, it has been years since you actively participated in "running the kingdom". Your thing is more going to quests and "saving the kingdom". Besides, you have a wonderful wife that is more than capable to rule while you're gone. Here, I'll contact her for you." Merlin said and passed his mirror to the king. He had secretly made the mirror communication available to all his closest friends – he blessed the day when the idea had come to his head and he had given them all the enchanted mirrors.

Arthur took it without complaining. It didn't take long till he had explained all to Gwen and gotten her permission along with the warning to be careful. When she had heard about the stinky forest and the butterflies disappearing and the bush without colour she immediately agreed to let him do whatever it takes to solve the mystery and save the kingdom's creatures from disappearing.

They neared the hole when Arthur remembered his other objection. "Wait, how do I know we will get back?" he said and stopped moving.

Merlin had no answer for that. Instead, Gaius provided it "Arthur, there is a chance the whole village will stink, turn colourless and, in the end, disappear. The only way to possibly stop it is by going through the hole." he looked sternly at the man he had known all his life. "I didn't know you were the kind of man who put his fears higher than the well-being of his kingdom."

Arthur felt ashamed. He had always done what was best for his kingdom regardless of his own comfort. Why did he suddenly feel the need to care for himself first? He knew the answer – this time he was stepping in without knowing, in the previous adventures he always had at least an inkling of what to expect. It felt like he was entering this adventure blindfolded. And that scared him.

He looked at his friend beside him. Merlin looked calm, he understood the fear Arthur felt and flashed him a reassuring smile as if saying, hey, I'm here, all will be fine.

It calmed Arthur and together they stepped closer to the hole leaving Gaius behind.

Gaius just watched as the king and his sorcerer stepped in the hole and the blackness enclosed around them, leaving no trace of the two friends.

Unable to take the stink any longer Gaius turned around and walked to his horse, intent on going home and helping as best he could – by examining the drawings and checking the books to find out what – or who – was responsible for this strange situation.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN**: So, this is the chapter where the crossovers begin. I hope none of them seem too out of character.

Just a bit of warning, after this chapter there will be more days between updates (until now I tried to update every 2 days or so), as this is the last chapter I have written and edited before starting to publish the story. But don't worry, I will still continue the story, only slower.

And thanks for the wonderful reviews! That is all, have a wonderful day. :)

* * *

Merlin and Arthur didn't feel anything as the passed through the hole. At first they were in the forest and the next moment the forest was gone and they found themselves in a meadow.

"So, I guess the hole is some kind of transportation device? I mean, everything looks more or less the same only darker." Arthur said in confusion.

"If it's just for transportation then that's a let-down. And it doesn't explain why there are colours here and why the meadow doesn't stink." Merlin said and started laughing, he just had realized something.

"What is it? You are probably laughing about me but I still want to know." Arthur said mildly annoyed.

"The hole brought the butterfly prince to a meadow to meet his subjects." Merlin said with a mischievous grin and pointed to a nearby butterfly. Arthur made a move to retort but was interrupted by two strange men running past them. At least they looked strange to the warlock and the king.

In fact, in this world the running men were completely ordinary – at least that was the effect they hoped to achieve with their clothes – if they drew attention to themselves it would cause unnecessary trouble in their line of work.

But Merlin and Arthur knew nothing about the two strangers. They knew nothing about their line of work, their personalities or importance in this world. To them they were just two strangely dressed men with intense looks on their faces.

"Wait, they themselves look dangerous. What are they running from?" as soon as Merlin said the words he saw it. A large group of dogs was chasing the men. Looking closer he noticed that they were all the dogs that were missing in their world. He recognised his neighbour's dog and the stray that had taken a liking to him and used to follow him around when he ran errands for Arthur.

"Aren't those?" Arthur began, having had the exact same idea. Merlin nodded.

"But why are they?" Arthur continued feeling extremely confused. Merlin shrugged, he had no idea.

Meanwhile the two men had started to run back with even more dogs chasing them. Apparently the dogs were on every side of the meadow. There was no escape. The two men ran to the middle of the meadow, right where Merlin and Arthur were standing. They kept looking back at the dogs chasing them so they didn't notice the king and the warlock and crashed into them. All four fell to the ground.

"Would you mind watching where you are running?" Arthur asked quite offended – people didn't just crash into kings without apologizing.

"Yeah, sorry, sunshine, we are quite busy, no time for brushing your dress out." The shorter man replied quite rudely.

Arthur was taken aback. No one spoke to the king like that. Sure, Merlin was bordering on being rude most of the time but this was just plain offensive. He made a move to demand apology but Merlin stopped him. The warlock gestured to the two men and whispered "Let's just watch what they mean to do. Maybe being rude is a custom in this land." Arthur doubted it but agreed to do nothing for now. So the warlock and the king sat in the meadow and watched as the two strange men stood up and frantically looked in every direction. Dogs were slowly enclosing the meadow.

"Come on, let's call Cas, Dean. We need help." The taller man pleaded.

"It's just dogs, we don't need an angel of the lord to take care of dogs – we need sausages and balls and maybe some cats to distract them. Try throwing a branch their way, Sam." The other man, who, as Merlin deduced, was called Dean – an unusual name – answered sounding annoyed.

"There are no branches, this is a meadow, and there are no trees! What do you want me to do? Throw flowers at them? Just call Cas," the other man – Sam – Arthur guessed – shouted.

Without saying anything the other man still made it perfectly clear with his look that he would not call this person called "Cas".

"Impressive, I should learn to do that, it would definitely come handy when speaking to my advisors" Arthur thought. Meanwhile Merlin had stood up.

"Do you need help?" he quietly asked, unsure of their stance on magic. He had decided the men were not villains or evil sorcerers. They seemed to be just two strange men in trouble.

Sam and Dean startled turned to look at the young warlock. The dogs were quickly approaching. They were unsure of what a weak looking man like Merlin could do. Sam quickly nodded while Dean shook his head.

"Yes, these dogs – ", "No, we're fine, who –" Sam and Dean began at the same time. Merlin smiled, the man called Dean was just like Arthur – bent on doing things by himself. He decided to help them both, even if half of the help receiving side didn't want it.

"Stillaþ wæfree ond ierree docgan" Merlin calmly said and dogs all around them stopped running and sat down.

"I guess you are one great dog trainer" Dean said astonished and patted Merlin on the back. Arthur stood up and beamed with pride at his friend. Leave it up to Merlin to make friends in five minutes or less.

"Ok, great, but who are you and why your speaking in Old English stopped the dogs?" Sam asked after overcoming the surprise.

"Old English?" Merlin asked and scratched his head. "I was told it is the language of the Old Religion. What is this "Old English" you speak of?" he asked, as always eager to learn new things.

"Well, we are speaking English now and Old English is –" Sam began but couldn't finish as he was interrupted by Dean.

"Who cares about Old English? Who are you and how did you get here? We have been running around here for half an hour and you weren't here before." he asked with suspicion and held his hand hidden in his jacket. Sam knew he was reaching for the knife and shot a look his brother's way.

"Why don't we go somewhere more civilized and away from the creepy dogs?" he suggested.

Arthur and Merlin looked at each other in confusion – more civilised? Sure, there were no houses or a castle here but for them this was quite civilised – this wasn't a swamp or uninhabitable land. But they had no choice – if they wanted to know what caused the weird events in their world they would have to follow Sam and Dean – their only lead.

So they followed the men away from the dogs and further into the forest leaving the peaceful meadow behind.

As they walked they heard hushed whispers from the front but could make out only a few words – Castiel, Crowley, water, oil, pie.

So they naturally assumed that the house of the strangers was nearby and they would have a nice dinner with the friend of the men – Castiel. They were a bit perplexed at what Crowley meant – was it their pet? And was it named like that because it liked to crawl? But they dismissed the thought and focused on the more appealing aspects – water and pie. In fact, they hadn't eaten since the morning, long before the butterfly incident, and felt quite hungry and thirsty. They thanked the higher powers for having met these men who would feed them so kindly.

While they thought like that the four men had already reached the road. A car was seen standing on the side of it. It was black and well kept.

Arthur and Merlin were confused at what was the purpose of the large black object but decided to not be afraid of it, as Sam and Dean didn't seem to be either. So they bravely approached it and Merlin finally asked the question that both he and Arthur were thinking about.

"Why were the dogs chasing you?"

Sam and Dean didn't stop walking and just motioned them to come closer to the back of the car where they stood by the open trunk. Suspecting nothing Arthur and Merlin walked closer.

When only a few steps were left between them the king and the warlock received ice cold water in their faces. Merlin was surprised but it didn't take him long to regain his bearings – he had experienced this feeling before – whenever Arthur got angry or annoyed and there was some water nearby.

Arthur, on the other hand, was completely shocked – how dared they do this to the king?

"What are you doing? Is this how you repay people that help you? Is this the custom in your land?" he asked incredulously.

"Hey, calm down, blondie, we had to make sure you're not demons." Dean calmly explained. "And your friend here is taking it like a man, what's wrong with you?"

"Ok, now we know you're not demons, let's go somewhere where we can really talk." Sam tried to calm down the two friends. "There is no need to start a fight in the middle of the road." He added looking at Arthur and Dean who were ready to settle their differences the hard way.

Merlin and Sam looked at each other and turned to their friends with the same intentions. Sam calmed down his brother while Merlin calmed down his king. With both hotheads relatively calm they got in the car.

At least Dean and Sam got in the car. Arthur and Merlin were standing outside, unsure of how to enter the strange object. When Sam got out of the car and with an exasperated sigh opened the doors for them they were hesitating to step inside but decided to follow the lead of the two strange men who evidently knew more about this land than they did.

The warlock and the king jumped in surprise when the engine started and music began playing. Sam cast a look to the back seat and, seeing their new acquaintances wide eyed and gripping their seats motioned to Dean to slow down and turn off the greatest rock songs. Then they slowly drove away with Arthur loosening his grip on the seat and mumbling "The meal better be fit for a king."

As the foursome drove away in the meadow the dogs were still sitting. Then, one by one they started to become colourless. As the first dog disappeared, they started to howl and run around again.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, what's your deal? How come you appear like some kind of demons? And why are you dressed like hobos?" Dean asked Merlin as he considered the dark-haired man to be the more sensible of the two – at least he hadn't thrown a fit during the test with the holy water.

Arthur looked appalled. He didn't know what were these "hobos" but judging from the tone it was said, it wasn't anything good. This "Dean" was the rudest person he had ever met, even Merlin hadn't been so insufferable when they first met.

The man would get no answers from him till he learned some manners when speaking to royalty and his friends. So Arthur crossed his hands and decided to get the answers to his questions first, before, if ever, answering theirs.

"Who are you? Why were the dogs chasing you and why you threw water at us? More importantly, what was the horrible contraption we came here in?" he asked assuming the voice of a king.

Dean gaped at the blonde with his mouth open. Nobody insulted his baby and got away with it. "Horrible contraption, my ass. You son of a bitch-" He growled and started to get up from his seat at the diner. Sam's hand stopped him and Dean heard a whisper "There are other customers here, calm down, don't make a scene. You know Crowley is searching for us – we need to keep a low profile."

"But he insulted my baby – no one insults my baby" Dean whined but sat down, understanding the logic in what Sam had said.

Meanwhile Merlin had also convinced his friend to keep quiet. It seemed like Dean was even more hot-headed than Arthur and Arthur had apparently offended him.

"It's best that I speak, they know I helped them and let's admit it, I'm better at talking with strangers – take for example Gwaine, the woman at the pub, Lancelot, the short man at those gates, the-"Merlin started to count off all the friends Arthur would have never made if it weren't for Merlin but was interrupted by the man himself.

"Fine, I understand. But they are rude and I don't like them." He sat back down with crossed arms. Without really meaning to he had perfectly mirrored the position of the man sitting across him.

Sam and Merlin looked at each other, at once noticing the similarities in the two men. They silently agreed not to mention it, as for now they had reached a temporary peace and were sure it would last at least until Dean and Arthur would decide to lift their heads from the offended child pose and offend each other again.

"Why don't we talk honestly? I'll tell you all about us and then you do the same. Sounds good?" Sam suggested. He felt like he could trust the dark-haired man.

Merlin felt the same way and simply nodded. Arthur and Dean still kept their positions but had turned their heads to the side to hear the conversation better. Merlin and Sam glanced at them and smiled, they really were quite similar. And so were they, but they hadn't noticed that yet.

"I'm Sam and that immature person sitting there is my bigger brother Dean. Perhaps you already knew that from our shouting in the meadow." Sam began. "We save people and hunt things, it's the family business. Our father did it before us and now that he is gone we continue his work." he continued.

"I'm sorry to hear about your father, I lost mine too." Merlin said sympathetically

"Sorry to hear that. But our father… let's just say he wasn't the best father. I think of Bobby more like a father." Sam contemplated. "He is the man we call when we can't figure out a case or need some help. He has always been there for us." He explained seeing Merlin confused at the new name.

Then realization dawned on the warlock's face. "So he's your Gauis!" he exclaimed. Now Sam was the one who was confused. "Sorry, I'll explain when it is my time to talk. I won't interrupt you anymore, please continue." Merlin mumbled an apology and in the corner of his eye saw Arthur trying to hold back a smile.

"O-k" Sam said hesitantly, he had started to have some ideas about who these strangers could be. But for now he pushed the ideas away and decided to quickly explain everything to be done with it. He was more interested in their story, not his own.

"So, when I saw we hunt things I don't mean deer or bears. I mean supernatural beings – witches, ghosts, shape-shifters, vampires. You name it, we have hunted it." Merlin's jaw dropped and he was about to say something when he remembered his promise and promptly closed his mouth. Looking determined not to speak he motioned for Sam to continue.

Sam definitely hadn't expected this reaction, he thought he would get some laughs or disbelief. Dean beside him was similarly shocked as he lifted his head completely having forgotten that he was supposed to still be angry. Confused, Sam continued his explanations "He have a friend called Castiel. We usually call him Cas. He is an angel of the lord and he once raised Dean from hell. He has also helped us countless times to stop demons. By the way, that is why we threw water at you – it was holy water and if you were demons you would burn and scream in pain. I guess that's it." Sam finished in one breath. He really wanted to hear what the dark-haired man had to tell.

But Dean had other ideas. Sam had forgotten to explain one important thing. "And that black beauty outside is my baby – my car. She is a 1967 Chevrolet. She's been with me all my life and we have driven to all parts of this country. And no one insults her." Dean explained fiercely. Then, seeing that the strangers had no intentions of insulting him or his car, his expression changed and he was no longer glaring at them.

"Fine, now it is our turn." Merlin said cheerfully trying to change the mood. "I'm Merlin and that is Arthur and-"he started but was immediately interrupted by Sam.

"I can't believe it, you really are them! You know, you are legends here – Arthur, his Knights of the Round Table, Guinevere, and Morgan le Fay. I read all about you when I was little." Sam almost shouted. "The Old English makes sense now. But weren't you supposed to be really old, Merlin? Like long-grey-beard old? And weren't you supposed to be-" Sam began looking at Arthur's belly but seeing the warning in the king's eyes changed the end of the sentence. "-erm, older?"

Merlin looked perplexed and opened his mouth to answer but Arthur interrupted him. "We let you finish your story without much interruptions for questions. Maybe we were wondering who is this powerful lord that has a hold over your friend Castiel and what exactly is an angel. But we let you finish and didn't ask. Shouldn't you show the same respect to us?" He looked as kinglike as he could in a run-down diner.

Sam and Dean immediately closed their mouths. When a legendary king tells you to just listen, you do it without question. Especially when he has a powerful wizard with him.

Arthur saw their submission and motioned for Merlin to continue.

Merlin obeyed and continued in an unsure tone, he was still quite confused – "They were a legend in this world? He – an old man?" Shaking his hand he dismissed the thoughts and focused on his story "So, like I said we are Merlin and Arthur –" that caused a small squeak from Dean which was promptly stopped by a stern look from Arthur.

"We live in Camelot and we also hunt things. Well, we hunt normal things like deer and bears. But we also fight supernatural creatures, though a bit different from your – we fight sorcerers, griffins, a dragon, goblins, fairies, curses. That sort of things. We also have an advisor that helps us with research – his name is Gaius. As you see I am not "really old" though I did at one time mask myself as an old man when Arthur didn't yet know I had magic." Merlin laughed at the memories. Arthur blushed and rushed Merlin to continue "I'm the court sorcerer of Camelot and he is the king. Yes, there is a woman named Guinevere, but we call her Gwen. She is Arthur's wife. Morgan le Fay – that's the first time I have heard of that name. " Merlin scratched his head. Dean looked a bit disappointed, he had actually liked the character in the books from his childhood and it hurt a bit knowing she didn't actually exist in some other world while all the other characters did.

"But we do have a Morgana – Arthur's half-sister. She has undergone some changes, hasn't she?" Merlin asked looking at his friend, willing for him to explain it, he was too involved to tell it objectively. Arthur understood and took over the thread of the story "She was once very kind, compassionate. She found out she had magic when the country was still under my father's rule – magic was strictly forbidden and punished by death. After finding out she had magic she met her half-sister – Morgause who turned her to evil ways. But she still wasn't completely evil – that happened after she was poisoned by Merlin and almost died." Arthur took a deep breath and saw Dean looking at Merlin accusingly. "He had no choice, if he hadn't done it all of Camelot would fall. Haven't you ever done anything because you had no choice and regretted it immediately?" Arthur defended his friend and sent a look Dean's way that made the former hang his head in shame.

"She turned evil, killed my father, tried to kill me and take over the kingdom until Merlin defeated her and is now keeping her in our prison. Of course, guarded by magic wards to prevent her from escaping. Merlin goes there every chance he gets and tries to reverse her corruption. It seems to be working, very slowly, but still working – she no longer blasts the magic barrier with fire when seeing him. Who knows, a couple of years and maybe she'll turn back to the old Morgana we all loved." the king finished on a hopeful note and sighed. Merlin put a hand on his shoulder. He too hoped his conversations with the poor soul would change her.

Sam and Dean looked uncomfortable. Sure, they had wanted to know more about the strangers but it seemed like they had poured their hearts out. Not knowing what to do Dean decided to pour his heart out too – that way they wouldn't be the only ones feeling like they got too much information.

"Though luck, guys." He said, unsure how to start. Merlin and Arthur lifted their heads up, they had thought the "tell each other about themselves" talk was over.

"You can't expect to drop a bomb like that on us and not get a bomb in return. So here goes. Our mother was burned by a yellow eyed demon when Sammy was just a baby. And it happened on the ceiling in his room, right above his crib. We have died several times. Sammy once had to suffer through a twisted version of Bill Murray's groundhog day where I kept dying. I have been to heaven, hell, purgatory and none of those places seemed very good. Cas rebelled against heaven for us and died for us two times. I have seen more betrayal than one person should see in his lifetime. Demons are hunting us and the king of hell wants us dead. To top it off, our grandfather is a douchebag and we are the only family each of us have left. And even then we still keep dying in each other's arms." Dean finished and turned his face away. Sam patted his back and the older brother walked out of the diner mumbling "I'll get some fresh air"

Arthur and Merlin sat stunned – they had no idea what heaven, hell or purgatory was. Demons and Bill Murray's groundhog day confused them even more. But the biggest shock came from the fact that the two men across from them had died. And they had done it several times. What kind of world was this? And more importantly, where and how could they get out?


	7. Chapter 7

When Dean came back he had another man with him. The man looked very serious and had a frown on his face. He was also wearing a long trench coat which calmed Merlin and Arthur, as it reminded them of the robes Gaius was fond of wearing.

"You must be Cas." Merlin stood up and extended a hand in greeting. Cas looked at it for a moment before finally shaking it.

"And you are not from this world." he replied in a simple manner. He had immediately seen that the two strangers didn't belong here.

Sam and Dean looked at each other and Dean spoke. "Sure, they look weird but come on man, they're not that strange. See, two arms, two legs, eyes – I'm pretty sure they are not the little green men." he gestured at the pair.

"Don't worry guys, Cas here still hasn't learned what politeness means." He turned to the king and warlock and clapped the angel on the back.

"No, he is right. The more I look around the more I understand that this is not our world. The colours are all somehow different – darker. And everyone's voices are deeper." Arthur agreed with the angel. He had first noticed the difference in the voices in the car. And he didn't like it. They made him sound weak. At first he had considered the option to imitate them but decided against it – he was the king and he didn't need to imitate anyone. He just had to be himself and everything would be fine – Merlin taught him that.

"Maybe it's just that the world is the same but the time is different – maybe this is the future for you." Sam tried to provide an alternative.

"That is not possible, I have been here ever since the first men. I can sense if someone is in a time where they shouldn't be." Castiel dismissed the possibility.

Merlin and Arthur looked at him in surprise. "He does not look so old, how is that possible? How could someone be alive now and have seen the first men?" Arthur whispered to Merlin. "Maybe he has powerful magic? Or maybe that's just common in this world? Maybe his "lord" is a powerful magical being?" the warlock tried to come up with an explanation, he was just as perplexed as the king.

"Besides," Cas continued, paying no attention to the whispering duo. "if what Dean told me is true, they come from Camelot. Camelot is just a legend you made up. It has never existed in this world. At least not in the way your legends or you two describe it." Cas calmly explained gesturing to Merlin and Arthur.

"So that hole must have been a pathway to another world, not a transportation device." Merlin told Arthur.

"Whoa, stop there, what hole? You didn't mention any hole before!" Dean was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that the men in front of him were from another reality.

"The hole we came here through. The hole that the dogs came here through. Well, it was a hole in our world but we didn't see it when we found ourselves in your world." Arthur explained.

"So that's why they were all purebred. Because they came from the other world and medieval time." Sam mumbled.

"You managed to check the breed of the dogs when we were running away from them? And since when are you interested in dog breeds? Planning to change careers?" Dean asked in disbelief and laughed.

Sam sent a glare to Dean and turned to Merlin and Arthur. "Ok, so clearly you haven't told us everything." he said.

"We are listening, leave nothing out this time, blondie." Dean sat down and motioned the two to speak.

Meanwhile Cas stood and looked at Merlin and Arthur. He was trying to figure out if they posed a threat to the brothers or were telling the truth. Having determined them to really be the legends they claimed to be he relaxed and turned his attention to the story they were telling.

Arthur began speaking. He told the hunters and the angel about the butterflies, and his butterfly wings, which caused smirks from Dean which in turn caused Sam to look at his brother with disproval. Then Merlin took over the narrative and described the butterflies disappearing after losing colour. Cas looked mildly interested while Sam and Dean still wondered how all this was connected to the reason of the literary legendary men being here.

"Ok, you don't need insect exterminators in your world. Can you cut to the case already?" Dean was growing impatient.

"Fine" Arthur sent the hunter an angry look. He didn't appreciate it when someone interrupted his friend. Merlin might not have minded but Arthur thought it showed disrespect.

So he quickly told them about the stinking forest and the colourless bush hiding the hole.

"And that's how the dogs and we got here." Merlin finished the story.

"This "hole" you describe is definitely some sort of portal." Castiel added. "I'll look around, see if something similar is happening anywhere here." And with these words he disappeared, completely shocking Merlin and Arthur.

"I'll call Bobby, ask him to check around too." Dean said and picked up his mobile earning confused glances from Merlin and Arthur.

"How is he supposed to call anyone using a small black box?" Arthur whispered to Merlin.

"Maybe it's some kind of magic of this world." Merlin guessed watching the man tap his fingers on one side of the small box. Then Dean put the phone to his ear and the attention of the legendary characters was diverted by Sam.

"So, while we wait for Castiel maybe let's eat. I couldn't help but notice that in your story you didn't mention any meals. I take it you are pretty hungry?" Sam friendly asked.

"Yes, we haven't had anything to eat for the whole day." Merlin sighed.

"Well, in that case I recommend pie." Dean said having finished his conversation just in time to hear the last remark.

Sam and Dean ordered for them all, since the king and his warlock were still perplexed at the names in the menu – there were no recognisable dishes. They were also perplexed at the notion of a menu – in their world they just said what they wanted and got it. Besides, they rarely ate outside of the castle, and if they did, they brought their own food.

"Just our luck, we had to go to a TV themed diner. Of course they don't know what a Star Wars Strudel means." Sam thought.

While waiting for the dishes to come the four sat and went over everything they had heard. They talked more about Gaius and Bobby, finding more and more similarities between the two. When the orders finally came the conversation stopped and everyone became focused on their food.

"We should find you different clothes – you stick out like a sore thumb." Dean said, mouth full of delicious pie.

"What Dean is trying to say is you bring attention to yourselves. And that isn't what you want to do if you're with us." Sam explained seeing the medieval pair confused at the expression.

"Is it really that bad? I think we won't be here for long – we just have to find another hole and we'll be home." Merlin was reluctant to change his attire.

"We're still not sure there is another portal. And even if there is, our world is very large – it might take days, months even to find it." Sam tried convince them.

His attempt was interrupted when Cas appeared in the diner. "I found it. Let's go." He said and made a move to transport them all.

"Wait a minute, let us finish eating." Dean protested. Merlin and Arthur sat frozen in their seats. They had never seen someone appear or disappear so casually – in their world there was always some wind or flying sand and leaves involved, not excluding loud curses and promises of revenge.

Seeing their reaction Sam turned to the angel. "Cas, stop scaring the once and future king and the greatest wizard in the world." he scolded the angel.

Hearing themselves being called by the now already ordinary but still quite embarrassing titles the two men calmed down and resumed eating. Hearing something familiar in this strange world calmed them.

Cas patiently stood and waited till every last bit of food was gone in the stomachs of the four. "Now can I transport you?" the angel asked watching as Dean swallowed the last piece of pie.

"Calm your horses." Dean exclaimed. Merlin and Arthur calmed down even more after hearing the familiar expression – they knew horses very well. But why were they mentioned now? Cas didn't have any horses. "Maybe it's another of their weird expressions, Dean seems to have a lot of them." Merlin concluded.

"Is it very far or can we go there with my baby? I still remember the first time you transported me. Do you really think that will end well this time with two already disoriented passengers?" he gestured to Arthur and Merlin.

"It is quite far. No, it is not possible to get there by car. I think they are stronger than you think – they are legends in this world for a reason." Cas addressed each point of Dean's protest. Then he reached out and awkwardly, to touch every man and make it possible to transport them together, produced what looked like a group hug.

"Don't want to take two trips, huh, Cas?" Dean joked squished next to the angel.

It was lucky for them that the diner was empty by the time they disappeared. Most people had been feeling more and more uncomfortable with the shouting and the strange behaviour at booth seven.

A lot of customers had left during the conversation, even more decided to leave when the four strangers started eating like they had never seen food before. The strongest or perhaps most stubborn customers had left at the beginning of the hug.

And now, with Sam, Dean, Merlin, Arthur, and Cas having transported away the diner was left empty.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: **Sorry for the delay (at least it feels like I haven't updated in a while), I had some trouble deciding the details in this chapter.

Again, thanks for the reviews. Special shout-out to Mika271170 for writing such nice reviews for each chapter :)

* * *

Merlin and Arthur followed the example set by Sam and Dean and closed their eyes when they started to feel a change. When they opened them trees were all around.

"This is the closest I could transport us without dropping one of you." Castiel explained when Dean looked at him ready to ask a question.

"The thing I found is a little way forward, I'll show you." the angel continued and started to lead the way.

Merlin and Arthur looked at each other and started following the angel.

In the back Sam whispered to Dean. "Has Cas ever had problems transporting you before? Something seems off. Are you sure that is Cas? I mean we have had our fair share of friends turning on us or actually being demons."

"Come on Sam, the man appeared when I started praying. And yeah, there have been no problem when transporting me but you know what? Now he transported 4 people. And 2 of them don't even belong in this world, so give him a break." Dean defended his friend.

"Ok, we know Cas is good. But can we trust them?" Sam nodded at the direction of Arthur and Merlin.

"Sam, we have met stranger things. And if they haven't tried to kill us now they probably won't try later. Besides, I am actually starting to like the medieval dudes." Dean said. The two men had obviously suffered a lot, sure, it was nothing compared to their tragedies. But the way they dealt with their problems was the same – going head to head with evil and taking care of each other. So, before really meaning to, in the short time they had spent together Dean had grown fond of the pair.

Sam couldn't help but agree, he also felt strange friendliness towards the king and wizard. He couldn't quite pinpoint the exact reasons but it felt like they were kindred souls.

With these thoughts the two turned to look at the men in front of them.

Merlin and Arthur were also whispering to each other.

"Do you think you could learn this "transportation" spell? That way we could save a lot of time while hunting." Arthur asked Merlin.

Merlin shook his head. "It seems like that it is no spell. Maybe only "angels" can do it."

Arthur looked a bit disappointed, he had already started to fantasize about all the places he and Merlin could visit. Then another thought crossed his mind.

"Can we trust them? Maybe they are leading us to a trap. Like that time with Nimueh when she acted like my friend but was actually guiding me to a cave with horrible spiders." He shuddered remembering it.

"Maybe they are in a league with Morgana and someone at home is now trying to release her." He continued, mind filled with theories.

"It seems highly unlikely. You yourself said that the world is different here. And strangely enough, I trust them. I might not have any reason to but I still do." Merlin remembered the literally cold welcome with the water.

"They seem to have been through a lot. I think they deserve some unconditional trust. Don't you feel the same?" he asked thinking about their conversation and things they had learned about the brothers.

Arthur thought about it. Ever since coming here he had relied on his brain and questioned everything. Now, calmly walking and letting himself follow his instincts he too felt the urge to trust the strangers. Given time they could perhaps become friends.

Meanwhile Cas walked steadily forward. He had no doubt about trusting any of the men. Being an angel he could see more than an average person and he saw no ill intentions in Arthur and Merlin. Besides, he had learned long ago to trust Sam and Dean and their judgement. Cas led them with confidence and soon enough they came to a small and abandoned village.

As soon as they came near the first house they understood the reason why it was deserted. There was no colour in the whole village. "What are we, in an old movie?" Dean grumbled but kept walking.

There was also the smell. It was horrible. At least, horrible for Sam and Dean. Cas didn't seem to mind. Arthur and Merlin had already smelled it once – in the small forest behind the castle. So while Sam and Dean moved forward with cloth over their noses, the king and warlock happily walked on inhaling the air with no reservations, joyous by the fact that they might get home soon and find out what Gaius had discovered.

Walking further and further into the village they came to a small park where the smell was the strongest.

"There is a hole like the one you described." Cas pointed to one particular bush in the park. "But before you go we need to discuss something." He added.

"And we couldn't have discussed whatever it is over there, in the skunk free technicolor zone? Let's go somewhere less like a toilet." Dean sounded annoyed. He looked ready to sprint away from the scene at the first opportunity.

Seeing their guides in this world suffering because of the smell Arthur and Merlin had an idea. They remembered that the smell hadn't mattered to them anymore after seeing the hole.

"We have an idea that might help. Come closer." Merlin motioned for Sam and Dean to come closer.

Reluctantly they obeyed.

"Arthur spread the leaves of the bush and a hole, identical to the one in Camelot, appeared. Sam and Dean were mesmerised and reached out to touch it. They had forgotten the smell.

"Fine, now we can talk." Cas's voice snapped them out of it.

The men formed a small circle to hear what the angel had to say.

"When I was searching for this place I looked for all the signs you described." He started. "And there have been creatures disappearing here too." The angel continued but was interrupted by a phone call.

Merlin and Arthur jumped at the sound – they were still trying to get used to the concept of a "phone".

Sam picked it up.

"Bobby. Tell me you found something good." he said. The remaining four watched as Sam listened and said short remarks like, ok, right, yes, thanks, keep looking.

"So, get this." Sam started. "Turns out Bobby found the same thing you did." He pointed at Cas. "But he also found that the village was evacuated a week before because of "a gas leak". And the police and gas company teams came here but everything was fine with the pipes. It was just a smell with no source." he paused for breath.

"And about your butterflies" he pointed at Merlin.

"They turned up here?" Merlin asked hopeful.

"No, but this town used to be called "Butterfly town" long before, they even had a special festival every year."

"And they all disappeared last week." Cas added. "Just flew into the park and never came back."

"Just like our dogs!" Arthur exclaimed.

"So the problem isn't just in your world – it affects our world too." Sam said.

"And since the only thing connecting us is the hole, it must be at fault." Merlin made a conclusion.

All four men turned to look at the hole.

"Bobby said he'll poke around some more." Sam said not taking his eyes off the portal.

"We should go through it" Arthur said. The remaining three nodded and started walking closer while the angel just stood and watched.

"I meant me and Merlin, you two should stay here and find out as much as you can." Arthur tried to stop everyone.

"But why can't we go?" Dean whined, the hole was calling to him. "Bobby and Cas can stay and research." he made a move towards the hole.

"Arthur's right Dean, we have to stay. What if there's another apocalypse and we're gone?" Sam tried to reason with his brother.

"Cas will come and get us." Dean said flippantly.

"No I won't." Castiel said. Dean turned and looked at him. "It is a parallel world. I'm not even sure if angels exist there." he explained.

"Merlin can use his magic here, you'll be fine there." Dean dismissed it.

"No, you don't understand. We don't know anything about the portal. What if it reacts to angels? What if it closes forever?" Cas said.

"The hole does not seem to react differently to different forms of life – we came through it and Arthur has no magic while I'm actually a creature of old religion. And the dogs are completely different species from us. So it seems fine." Merlin tried to explain.

This seemed to calm everyone down.

"But my powers might not work there, because they come from my connection to heaven." Cas still had arguments against the idea.

"My power comes from Old Religion and it doesn't seem to exist here but I can still do magic. I think you'll be fine." Merlin dismissed it. Strangely, he wanted Sam and Dean to come with them, Merlin thought it would be a great opportunity to find out about this world and they could show the pair their world.

"So it's decided? We go too?" Dean asked hopefully after a moment of silence.

"To be honest I would rather stay and see what the library of the men of letters has to say about this." Sam admitted, he felt a weaker pull from the portal.

"We have the possibility of adventure where no immediate danger, at least according to these two, is to be expected." Dean pointed at Merlin and Arthur.

The warlock and the king simply stood and watched, allowing the brothers to make the decision.

"We have the possibility to see a world without demons and you choose books. How did you ever manage to get laid?" Dean laughed.

"Laid?" Arthur mouthed to Merlin. Merlin shrugged, he too had no idea what it meant and how the activity of a hen was connected to the tall man.

"Hell, I don't mean it like we go and never come back. Think of it like a vacation. And God knows, we need one." Dean finished, leaving the Camelot characters perplexed with the words "vacation" and "God".

"I don't think God would be very interested in what you need, as he is gone." Cas remarked. Sam and Dean looked at him for a moment but then resumed their argument. They had gotten used to Cas making remarks that serve no purpose.

"I would much rather try going through the portal and seeing Camelot in its full glory when everything is fine with it. Which, judging by the stink and loss of colour here, is not now." Sam said.

"Ok, you have a point." Dean agreed and backed away from the portal.

"Then it is decided, we two will go through. You will stay and try to find a way to fix what is wrong. If anything new comes up we will go through the hole once more. You should stay here and research and if you find anything new.." Arthur said but stopped, he had no idea how the men could contact them without going through the hole.

"If we find anything extremely important I'll go through and deliver the information. Even if the portal would be harmful I would be able to stand it longer." Cas volunteered.

"Cas, you're taking a big risk here. Sure you want to do it?" Dean asked.

"You know me, always ready to take risks for the Winchesters." Cas shrugged.

"Well, then we'll go now without delay." Merlin said and shook hands with the staying men. "Good luck." Sam wished them.

Then Merlin and Arthur turned towards the portal and stepped into it.

As they stepped in the portal the park disappeared and the men found themselves in a new world.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: **I'm sure you're getting tired of all the AN at the beginning of each chapter but this was pretty necessary. So I'll try to keep it short. :)

I saw that some (or even all) of you thought Sam and Dean were coming into the portal too. Really sorry, that is just not happening right now. Mainly because I'm not sure I could write so many characters at once.

So really sorry for any misunderstandings. But they will appear again later in the story, don't you worry. :)

Gosh, this got longer than the other ANs, sorry about that. :)

* * *

This time they weren't in a meadow. In fact, there wasn't a tree in view. All around them were large buildings that confused them even more than the previous world. At least there they had some familiar features, like nature. Here everything was foreign.

That is, until they read the sign on one of the houses. It said "King Arthur's diner"

"Well, that is unexpected. I didn't know I owned a diner." Arthur scratched his head.

Merlin made a move to examine the writing closer but was stopped by a large sound coming from behind the biggest building. After a shared glance the king and warlock immediately made their way towards it.

Rounding the corner they crashed into a strange man. The man immediately jumped on his feet and started speaking.

"My, that was a close one. If it hadn't been for the momentary change in the molecular state, I would be in real trouble now. But what caused it?" the man seemed to mumble to himself. Then he looked down and noticed Merlin and Arthur. "Hey, who are you? You seem like.. Wait! No! It couldn't be.. could it?" he started circling around the two. "But that would mean.." he stopped walking.

Merlin and Arthur just sat on the ground looking very confused.

"Hello, I'm Merlin and that is Arthur." Merlin tried to fit in words between the man's continuous word flow.

"I know who you are, it was obvious from one look. What I'm more interested in is why you're here. Which universe you are from? And where can I get a neckerchief like that? Neckerchiefs are cool." The man now spoke at them, rather than around them.

But he was interrupted by a large crashing sound.

"Well, I guess the change in his molecular state didn't last long." The man gracefully turned around. "Sorry, got to go, save the town, talk with someone, you know, all the usual stuff." He yelled running towards the noise.

Merlin looked at Arthur and the two wordlessly decided to follow the stranger. Truth be told, he had made the pair quite intrigued.

They saved people, Sam and Dean had said their "family business" was saving people and now this man saving the whole town? Meeting him couldn't be a simple coincidence. There was no way they would just walk away now.

As they came closer they saw the source of the noise. It was a large blob like creature. Merlin had never seen anything like it, and he had seen plenty magical creatures.

The creature was walking forward and smashing any buildings that got in its way. The strange man slowly approached it but was careful not to touch it.

A young girl appeared next to the man. She had ran from the other side so she didn't immediately notice Arthur and Merlin standing in one of the smaller streets.

The two whispered for a bit, until the man apparently had convinced the girl to step back. She walked backwards till she was standing next to Arthur.

"Hey, so you're the legendary king Arthur. Somehow I always thought you would be taller." The girl remarked without looking at the king and turned her attention to the stranger. She was too focused on what was happening to notice Merlin standing on the other side of Arthur.

Arthur just stared at her, having no answer to what was said.

"Why did everyone had to comment on my appearance? Was it my fault they had imagined me to be different?" he thought and pouted.

Merlin smiled, it was always entertaining to see Arthur speechless. Then he turned back to watching the man who had apparently convinced the blob to stay in one place. Right now the creature was standing in the middle of a narrow street and smashing houses all around it.

It looked like the man was trying to communicate with the creature. But the communication was unsuccessful as the blob started to smash the wall of one particular house even harder.

"Do you need any help?" Merlin shouted, unsure of what he could do.

The girl jumped at the voice and turned around, thinking the voice was coming from the legendary king. She let out a little squeak when she noticed Merlin.

"No, I'm perfectly fine. Everything is going like I planned." The man replied but seemed out of breath as he jumped around to avoid parts of the houses that were falling down all around him.

"He doesn't look like he's fine." Arthur absentmindedly remarked, his mind was still trying to process all that was happening.

"He never does. But trust me, he knows what he is doing." The girl replied in full confidence, having recovered from her little fangirl moment.

"Still, I think I should at least try to help even if he doesn't want it." Merlin said and closed his eyes. He tried to think of an appropriate spell. Then it came to him.

"Bordrand atiwan on uncúða" he said with a hand stretched out towards the man. His eyes turned golden and an invisible shield appeared above the stranger. It protected him from the falling debris.

"Ok, maybe I needed some help. Thanks Merlin." The stranger grumbled but waved at the warlock.

Then he stepped closer to the blob and spoke some words in a soft tone. The wall smashing stopped and the man guided the creature away from the narrow street and into a wider one. As they stood in the middle of the deserted street Arthur and Merlin had the opportunity to properly look at the two strangers. But first they took the chance and looked at the blob.

It was huge and took over a big part of the street. The blob was mostly green, but here and there blue, white, black and grey colours appeared in its body like veins. Its whole body, if it could be called a body, was partially see-through and without a particular form. Its eyes were on the top of the body and, surprisingly, looked old and wise.

Eyes were the only things that were constant in the creature, they stayed in one place and didn't float around but were turning around and looking at the four people standing before it with interest. Suddenly, one part of the body changed form and turned into something similar to a mouth. This completely shocked Merlin and Arthur but the stranger and the girl were calm.

"Fjoijaew tewthwi. Iawjeo grrrojoa yoksejr." The girl urged it, sensing the hesitation of the creature.

"Grrdter uuuutgewuu uuoajoqiroiji jdkjoi ljuuoijs?" said the creature completely confusing the medieval men. But the strangers seemed to understand what was being said.

"Brwrwojo thdshhkhka grrdter ljuuoijs." The stranger calmed the blob.

Seeing Merlin and Arthur's confusion the girl explained "I told him no one will hurt him and he can speak. Then Frank asked "Are the horrible bright flying creatures gone?" and got the answer that yes, they are."

Meanwhile the mouth of the creature turned into a smile and disappeared in its body. Then the blob decreased in size and slowly seeped into the ground.

Merlin and Arthur just stood frozen. They had seen some strange things but this just took the cake. They were unsure what to do or where to step.

"What if the whole ground is full of them? Won't it hurt if I step on them?" was all Merlin could get out although his mind was full of questions.

"Oh, no they usually live deep down, there is no way you could just step on one. But they do come up from time to time to see how things have changed. It usually happens every 2849 years. And this one just happened to choose today to appear." the strange man explained, completely calm.

"2849 years? Are there actually beings that live so long?" Arthur was even more shocked but relieved that he could walk without worry.

"Of course, they are ancient creatures, didn't you see his eyes? So wise, oh, if only he hadn't met those butterflies... The stories he could tell, the things he had seen. Just five minutes with these creatures could stretch your mind like a rubber glove." the stranger sighed.

"Wait, butterflies?" Merlin caught on.

"Those must have been the butterflies from Sam and Dean's world." Arthur added.

"Those butterflies were from another world? But it didn't seem like that, they looked pretty normal." the girl remarked.

"Of course, it didn't seem like that to you, you are used to looking at things as a whole. You have to look at the details, didn't you see the colouring on their wings?" the strange man spoke rapidly

"Well, sorry, I was a bit busy looking at the screaming and clearly stressed out Frank." The girl replied.

Merlin and Arthur just watched the fast exchange of remarks. Finally they had had enough and Arthur decided to speak.

"If you wouldn't mind – you know who we are. Though I'm still unsure of how exactly you know it." He said. The strangers turned their heads towards him.

"Of course we know you, you are one of the most popular legends in the whole world. Everyone knows about King Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table. I have actually met you before. Well, not exactly you, a different version of you. I mean, you can't expect to travel the whole of time and space and never encounter Merlin and Arthur, that's just crazy!" The strange man started rambling again.

"And I read about you when I was small, it was one of my favourite bedtime stories." the girl added interrupting the rambling of the man.

"But you don't even seem surprised that we are real!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Hey, be grateful they are not throwing water at us" Arthur whispered causing the friend to laugh.

"Traveling with him" the girl gestured to the man. "You get used to expecting anything. You aren't even the biggest surprise we have had." she continued.

Arthur cleared his throat determined to finally ask the question he had intended to.

"Who exactly are you?"


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm the Doctor and that is Clara" the strange man motioned between them.

"You are a doctor? I don't see your medicine bag. And there are no herbs around here that you could gather." Merlin was sceptical, he knew what doctors or physicians, as they were known in his world, looked like, Gaius was one of them. To become one took years of studies and this man looked too young.

"No, no, no, dear wizard. I'm not _a doctor, _I'm _the Doctor._ That is my name. Well, that is not really my name but even she doesn't know my name, so why should you?" the man pointed at Clara. "And it actually makes no difference to you, so just call me the Doctor, everyone does. Well, not everyone but I don't suppose you would like to call me sweetie. And I wouldn't like it if you called me sweetie either. Actually, no one calls me sweetie anymore" the man started to ramble again but a look of sadness passed his face and drained his seemingly endless energy after the last sentence.

"Are creatures like this common in your world?" Arthur asked wanting to know more about the strange place they had come to.

"No, didn't you hear, they come up every 2849 or so years. And what do you mean "your world"? Aren't you from this planet? You look like humans, aren't you from earth?" Clara had questions of her own.

"What is a "planet"?" Merlin wanted to know.

Arthur and the stranger who had recovered and looked as lively as before started to speak at the same time.

"We are from earth, but we came from another world through a hole-"

"A planet is like a large gathering of all this different stuff and it is very cool-"

Both men stopped and looked at each other.

"Wait, you came through a portal? Of course, you are from earth, just from another parallel earth." the Doctor exclaimed.

"Parallel earth?" Clara, Merlin and Arthur asked for further explanation.

"You see, this is our world, it is wibbly-wobbly and everything that happens here influences it." The doctor held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. Then he lifted his other hand and placed it opposite the hand without touching it. "And this is a parallel world – things are pretty much the same, because of the, eh you wouldn't be able to pronounce or understand it anyway, let's call it "magic". So, there are trees, ground, rivers and so on in both worlds. But also because of this "magic" the worlds are different in some ways." And he started putting the hand in a fist and releasing it.

Then Merlin put his hand near the Doctor's and started turning it around. Now the three hands formed a triangle without touching each other.

Arthur understood immediately – he had spent very much time with Merlin. One could even say their mind worked alike – they were like two sides of a coin.

The Doctor looked a bit longer until he too understood what was meant.

He turned to explain it to Clara but was surprised when she said "So you two have already gone through one parallel world before coming here. This is the third world you have been in."

"Clara, you clever, clever girl!" the Doctor patted her on the head.

"But it is pretty unusual, three parallel worlds being connected with a portal. Show me where you appeared at." he continued.

As they turned around and started walking back he took out a small stick with a glowing light on the end of it.

"What is that?" Arthur asked pointing to the stick while leading the way back.

"That's his sonic screwdriver, pretty useful, you'll see. Don't worry if he swings it around very much, he likes to move a lot." Clara explained.

They reached the place where Merlin and Arthur had appeared and the Doctor waved the screwdriver around with a concerned expression.

"There was definitely some disturbance here but now it is gone." he said and turned the screwdriver to Merlin who immediately took a step back and assumed a defensive position.

"Merlin, calm down, it's just a stick with glowing light." Arthur tried to calm his friend.

"How do I know we can trust them?" Merlin was still doubtful.

"Merlin, they calmed down a giant blob when we saw them, you yourself helped them. And if they wanted to harm us they would have done it long ago." Arthur said.

It calmed Merlin and he lowered his hands. The Doctor sighed.

"I know I'm a powerful Timelord with two hearts but when a legendary wizard points his hands at you one of your hearts can't help but skip a beat. I mean, I just got threatened by the legendary Merlin!" the Doctor grew more and more excited with each word.

Merlin stood confused, he wanted to apologize but it looked like there was no need. Besides, it was the first time anyone had been honoured by being threatened by him. He didn't know how to react.

"What is a "Timelord"?" he asked, turning to no one in particular.

"A race of aliens, very ancient, very wise. And very extinct – he is the last of his kind." Clara looked at the Doctor in sympathy. The Doctor didn't seem to notice, the gears in his head had started turning.

"They used to travel all of time and space, now it is just him alone." Clara finished her explanation. Merlin turned his gaze to the strange man, he couldn't even imagine being so alone – traveling for centuries alone, having no family left alive. He shuddered even thinking about it and KIlgharrah came to his mind. He thought about how the Dragon and the Doctor had much in common – they were both wise, though the Doctor seemed to hide it under his rambling, ancient and alone.

Meanwhile the Doctor too seemed deep in thought. He had started walking with fast steps around the remaining three and mumbling to himself.

"Does he do that often?" Arthur whispered to Clara.

"Yes, that is his way of working out a problem – he is a mover. Just wait and watch." Clara said with a smile.

Then suddenly the Doctor stopped. "Of course. Oh, it was right there. Frank, that's why he came up a year earlier! Let's go, I think I know how to get you home!" he exclaimed and started walking quickly in one direction.

"Wait, Doctor, you don't know why we entered the portal." confused Merlin shouted after the Doctor.

"Tell me on the way." the Doctor yelled back and motioned for them all to follow.

While walking Merlin stayed next to the doctor and relayed all of the events – the butterflies, the dogs, the forest, Sam and Dean, the abandoned village. The Doctor just listened and concentrated on leading the way time by time giving a sign of understanding.

"And then Dean and Sam decided to stay and research and send Cas if there were any news." Merlin finished his story.

"How foolish, don't they know that the best research is by jumping head-first into everything? I have read every book, well, every book of importance, and I can tell you, personal experience is the best." the Doctor said.

"I wouldn't recommend jumping head-first into everything, I could have avoided a great mistake if I had done more research before acting." Merlin sighed.

"You mean Morgan le Fay, don't you?" doctor said.

"Well, she is called just Morgana in our world, but yes." and Merlin told that tale too.

"Actually, it sounds like you couldn't have done anything. Seems like it was a fixed point in time." the Doctor said after hearing all Merlin had to say about his friend-turned-enemy-turned-prisoner.

"What is a fixed point in time?" Merlin asked though he had an idea.

"You're smart, what do you think it is?" the Doctor looked at the warlock.

Merlin scratched his head. "Well, you told us how the big things in all worlds stay the same... So that means that some events have to happen to form the basis of the world…" Merlin thought out loud. The Doctor urged him on, he always enjoyed watching people figuring things out, how they slowly moved towards the right answer; it was fascinating for him.

"So the fixed points must be these events, the big events that shape the world!" Merlin exclaimed.

The Doctor applauded his new friend. "See, I knew you could work it out!"

Meanwhile Arthur and Clara were starting to get tired, they had walked for a long time already. So the king told Clara the shorter version of their story.

"Ok, we are getting near. But I guess you can see that." the Doctor shouted at Clara and Arthur who had sunken into a conversation about their friends. They had surprisingly discovered very much similarities between the two – the need to take care of things by themselves, always saving them, the strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. Even their appearance bore some similarities – both the Doctor and Merlin were tall, thin and had noticeable cheekbones.

Hearing the call Clara and Arthur paused the conversation and properly looked around. And stopped on the spot.

Merlin looked around too and saw a small bush in a distance. "There is nothing else around" he thought. And by nothing he meant really nothing – there was no colour in a large radius around the bush.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Sorry for the long updating delay. I'll just say this - real life got in the way. Really sorry, I'll try to not let it happen again.

* * *

They neared the bush walking faster and faster until they were almost running, the Doctor and Clara because of the unbearable smell and Arthur and Merlin because knew the bush was hiding another hole – a hole that could get them home. It wasn't that they didn't like all these "parallel worlds" and wanted to leave them as soon as possible. They still had a thirst for adventure that urged them to walk into the first hole. They were just worried about the state of things at home – everywhere they went the same thing was happening. And since it happened first in their world they feared how far it could have gone – would there be any colour left when they get home?

But they shook away these thoughts and slowed their step, careful not to fall into the hole. Not yet at least – they still had things to talk about with Clara and the Doctor. Without looking at the two they knew the smell was bothering the Timelord and his companion. The king and warlock were already used to it – it was the third time they smelled it. Without long ceremonies they spread the leaves of the bush. Seeing the portal the Doctor and Clara, like Sam and Dean before them, forgot about the smell.

"Ok, this should probably bring you home if the portal follows the universal principle of three – and they usually do. Unless this is a different type of portal in which case you might end up in great danger. But that is highly unlikely. I think." the Doctor said tearing his gaze away from the portal. As always, he was curious about new things. And while the portal itself might not have been terribly novel for the alien, the loss of colour and the smell was certainly a new addition that made this particular portal special.

"But what about the disappearing creatures? Is there anything that has disappeared here?" Merlin asked spooked by what the Doctor had just said. He didn't like the "I think" at the end. While the Doctor mostly looked sure of himself and quite smart those two words felt out of place.

"Look around you. There is nothing here." Clara said.

"Should there be something? We don't have castles of this sort in our world." Arthur asked.

"Of course there should be, no city, no matter how small, should be this deserted. Let's see, what is normally in cities." the doctor said and again started to pace around.

"People. No, people would just leave, they wouldn't go into a stinking bush. Dogs! No, no park here, dogs need parks. Cats?" he took out his screwdriver." Yes! Cats, cats are missing! Wait, I shouldn't be happy, cute little kitties are missing." he damped down his enthusiasm.

"Dogs, butterflies, cats. A strange combination of creatures." Clara said.

"I understand the cats – curiosity killed, or, in this case, moved the cat." The doctor said with a smile feeling quite proud at his joke.

Seeing as all the others were deep in thought Merlin laughed, more of politeness than amusement.

"I don't think cats would be so careless, I used to have a cat and sure, he was curious and liked to explore, but he never went anywhere where he couldn't get back from. And seeing as there seems to be no straight way back after going through the portal I don't think cats would go anywhere near it. They are too careful for that." Clara dismissed the Doctor's idea.

"And dogs usually stay with their owners. In our world they left their owners to go through the portal." Arthur added.

"So disappearing through the portal like this is against the very nature of the animals." Merlin thought he knew what his old friend and new acquaintance were hinting to.

"Look at you! Working together, making a hypothesis!" the Doctor walked around them and ruffled their hair. Clara was used to this but Merlin and Arthur looked at each other. A smile broke out in their faces when they imagined what Gwaine would do if the Doctor touched his hair. The knight took pride in his hair and even though he made it look very natural and I-just-got-out-of-the-bed-and-it was-like-that the warlock and the king both knew that Gwaine actually spent a lot of time styling it. Teasing the knight about it was one of the few ways to get him to follow orders or skip a trip to the tavern.

"You make a great team! But you forgot about the butterflies." The Doctor interrupted the thoughts with his cheerful voice.

"From what Arthur told me on the way here I understood that butterflies in the town in Sam's and Dean's world appear regularly. The town even has a festival for them. So it is against their nature to disappear at the time of the festival." Clara was quick to defend their theory.

"Well done!" the Doctor again ruffled Clara's hair. "So, let's think some more... The animals act against their nature. What would cause them to do so?" he started walking around. Merlin opened his mouth to answer but the Doctor continued talking. "Maybe someone pushed them through? No, that's nonsense, no one would have that much time and who would actually do that? Pushing animals is no fun. And how could you push a butterfly? Impossible…" the Doctor trailed off and stopped it looked like he had worked out the problem. "Whatever remains, however improbable…" he mumbled to himself.

By this time Arthur, Merlin and Clara were content just standing back and letting the Doctor work it out. Trying to say something would be hard, considering how short and little pauses Doctor left. Besides, they were all fascinated with the man's movements – they were quite graceful, if a little erratic.

"The animals went there by themselves! We all felt mesmerized by the portal, we all felt the pull." The remaining three nodded.

"So maybe the animals felt the pull too?" Clara asked to no one in particular.

"But Gaius didn't feel the pull." Arthur objected.

"Maybe we are somehow special, maybe the hole produces some sort of wave that affects us and the animals?" Merlin tried to defend the idea, he liked it.

"Well, that's the best we can come up with. I think it's good enough for now. Besides, shouldn't we be more concerned about where the portal leads to and why it's here than what makes animals go through it?" the Doctor changed the subject.

"Yes, you're right. But I think we should be going now, we are worried about our world, how much colour will be left there." Merlin quickly said. He looked concerned. He was imagining Camelot without colours and shuddered at the thought.

"Will you come too or stay here to greet Cas if he comes with any news?" Arthur asked feeling the same as Merlin.

"I would like to go…" Clara responded and looked at the Doctor. The Doctor shook his head sadly. He didn't like the idea of sitting around and waiting. But he knew he couldn't go in the portal – that would mean leaving the Tardis behind since it was too large to fit through. And if he ever went to a parallel universe it would be only with the Tardis – it was his home, his transport and his most prized possession. Or maybe he was its most prized possession.

In any case, he knew that simply leaving the Tardis and running off to have adventures where he couldn't be reached would upset the Tardis. And an upset Tardis was a sight he didn't want to see.

"We'll sit and wait and if anything happens, Clara will go and inform you." He mumbled.

"Why can't I go and you stay and wait for Cas?" Clara asked.

"Because someone will have to go through the portal when Cas comes here. And I can't go and leave the Tardis." The Doctor calmly explained.

"Then that is settled. Here we go." Merlin said and turned to go.

"At least scream "Geronimo" in my place, since I can't go." The doctor yelled after them.

Merlin looked confused but Arthur had been told about this particularity of the doctor by Clara.

So he complied and walked into the portal after yelling "Geronimo" and throwing a last glance at the doctor, content to see him smile.

Merlin followed his friend and soon they were both again overcome with the blackness. They closed their eyes and hoped to get home.


	12. Chapter 12

Their wish didn't come true. When they opened their eyes the warlock and the king found themselves in another, even stranger world. Looking around it was evident at once that this was not Camelot. This was not their home. The friends felt disappointed but soon overcame the feeling when they started to look around.

The world was bright and colourful, and seemed almost surreal. They were standing on a small hill and were facing a small town at the foot of it. The view was so beautiful they could barely take their eyes off the little houses that looked like they had come straight from a fairy tale. This was definitely the most visually striking of the three worlds they had been to.

"I don't know where we are but I feel like this place is not real. No real world could have colours like that." Arthur noted looking around.

"I know, it looks like the land in this story my mother used to tell me." Merlin added, entranced by the beautiful colours.

"What land? My father or nannies never mentioned anything like this." Arthur asked motioning all around him. Since he hadn't heard the story about a world this bright he wondered if it, a legend in their world, was actually the reality in this world, like they had been legends everywhere else they had gone so far.

"Maybe it was popular only in Ealdor? Everyone in my village knew about this…" Merlin shrugged, there were many things Arthur didn't know that to him seemed widely known.

"Or maybe that was because I grew up in a castle where my father was very strict about things I could know and stories I was told. Was there magic involved?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, there was some magic in the story." Merlin agreed.

"Then that explains why I have never heard about it. Come on Merlin, educate me." Arthur said with a grin, he loved it when Merlin taught him new things, especially if it happened in a way of storytelling. Of course, he immediately supressed the grin – he didn't want to give _Mer_lin more things to tease him about. He could imagine it now – Merlin treating him like a child just because he liked the way his friend told stories.

What he didn't know was that Merlin already knew all this. And the warlock had no intention of teasing the king. After all it wasn't Arthur's fault that he hadn't heard many fairy tales while growing up, it wasn't his fault he hadn't been allowed to experience the wonder of them.

"Fine, but don't expect me to tell it like I usually do. You know I need a flat surface for that." Merlin shook a finger at the king who looked disappointed.

The warlock began the story. "It went a little like this, there once was a beautiful land with many colours you couldn't even imagine. And in this land lived a fair knight called Nedallot the Endearing. Don't laugh at the name, he is a very good character." Merlin looked warningly at Arthur who fought to suppress a laugh.

"Did Nedallot need a lot of stuff?" Arthur couldn't resist cracking a joke.

Merlin just looked at him disapprovingly but also let a smile fill his face, he had said a similar joke the first time he had heard the story. But then again, he had been a small boy – Arthur had no excuse.

He continued "This knight wasn't an average knight – he had magic. But he didn't want the magic he had, he had always feared it ever since it had inadvertently caused his mother and his beloved's – Lady Charlotte's – father to die." Merlin looked sad, even when he had been little he had always cried at the part where the Lady's father died in front of her eyes while Nedallot watched in shock from a distance with his own mother laying still at his feet.

Arthur saw how affected Merlin was and decided to give him a moment.

After a short while Merlin seemed to have recovered and wanted to continue.

"After her father was killed Lady Charlotte-"he began but was interrupted by loud meowing.

They had been so mesmerised by the city in front of them that they hadn't even thought to look at the rest of the world. Now they turned around to look behind them. They became speechless from another breath-taking view. The hill, every inch of it, was covered with yellow flowers. They were convinced that walking there would feel like walking on sunshine.

The three figures sprinting towards them, however, didn't look like they were walking on sunshine. Sure, they moved gracefully, but then again, everything moving in a place this beautiful would look graceful. It was their faces that betrayed their discomfort. They looked worried and not at all happy.

The threesome was obviously running from something. Merlin and Arthur didn't immediately see what they were running from – it just looked like the flowers were moving in waves after the runners. But they could definitely hear it.

As the runners came closer the air became overcrowded with different meows. There were low, high pitched, slow and long, fast and short meows. Every kind of meow could be heard. And they could be heard at the same time.

Merlin didn't have to think long, he had already done this once – on the dogs. He stretched out his hand and said „Stillaþ wæfree ond ierree catte". The movement in the flowers immediately stilled.

And it was a good thing it did, because the runners had almost reached the warlock and the king. A few more seconds and they would have crashed into one another and the cats would have caught them all. Arthur remembered what one cat had done to him when he was little – maybe the cat had been scared, Arthur didn't know, but in the end it was he who had been scarred.

"What was that, some sort of kitty parade? I thought you said there would be "some" cats. That's not "some", that's "one hell of a lot"." one of the three said to the man beside him as he checked his clothes.

"I might have deliberately forgot to specify the number. But "some" does entail more than one, and you couldn't have expected me to count them all because that would be impossible?" the other man responded. He was clearly nervous.

The three strangers had stopped right in front of them. The woman coughed with a nod of her head brought Arthur and Merlin to the attention of the two men. Now all five of them were looking at each other.

The more Merlin looked at them the more he felt he knew them. Arthur, on the other hand looked at them with a critical eye. So far everyone they had met had been friendly but it would be foolish to become careless.

The threesome consisted of two men and one woman. The only one of them who looked friendly and excited about the meeting was the woman. Actually, one of the men was also excited but his excitement could be categorised more into the "Oh, no, no, no, why is this happening to me" type while the woman radiated a "Hello, this is a wonderful turn of events" kind of feeling.

The only one who showed no signs of excitement was the third person. He even looked slightly bored. However, he carefully eyed them from head to toe and after some deliberation reached in his pocket and produced a small piece of paper. He handed it to Arthur and Merlin who just looked at it confused. They wondered what they were supposed to do with this piece of paper.

"Is this their money?" Arthur whispered to Merlin.

Merlin shrugged, he had no idea.

Meanwhile the bored-looking man opened his mouth to start speaking but was interrupted by the other man who spoke extremely fast and whose voice betrayed that he wasn't often in situations like this and didn't like being here.

"Well, thanks for stopping the cats with your words, really wonderful to meet you. I see it you are new here and Chuck will probably want to show you around, and Emerson will probably want to know if you have a case he could take on and if you have money. Probably the other way around, he would first ask about the money." The man quickly said and stopped to take a short breath.

Merlin and Arthur looked at each other.

"And we thought the Doctor spoke fast." Arthur whispered causing a smile to bloom on Merlin's face.

Meanwhile the man continued. "And it looks like you both don't know what to do with the card Emerson gave you – and I think Emerson would like to explain it to you and Chuck will want to talk to you but you already look confused. And the cats really scare me – with the way they were all chasing us. So can we please have this conversation at the Pie Hole? Everyone agrees? Great, let's go then." he finished just as he had run out of breath and turned to go.

Seeing as he walked with long steps and was quite tall all the others followed the man without complaints. They didn't have time for complaints if they didn't want to stay alone with the creepy cats that were even scarier now that they were just sitting incredibly still.

"I'm Chuck, by the way. And that there fast speaking and fast walking man is Ned." The woman they now knew as Chuck managed to introduce herself to the warlock and the king.

"And he was quite rude." she shouted after the man who was walking a small distance ahead of them. Then Chuck looked at Merlin and Arthur and waited for them to introduce themselves.

But they were still distracted by the colours and thinking about everything the man had said.

"Wait, Ned and Chuck… and bright colours? You don't think?" Arthur asked Merlin after hearing their names. Chuck looked at them in confusion.

"Do you know us?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, I do think so. And I must say I'm very happy about it." Merlin smiled and looked like he was bursting with joy. It wasn't every day you would get to meet your childhood heroes, especially, if they were fictional characters.

As they walked quickly to the bottom of the hill they saw what the warlock and the king now, thanks to Sam and Dean, were able to recognise as a car.

Meanwhile the cats on the hill were sitting still. One by one they started to lose their colours, presenting a discomforting contrast to the bright yellow flowers around them. But they didn't move. In fact, they seemed frozen in place.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Hi everyone, just to make things clear, the setting-up-the-worlds part of the fanfic has stretched out past the planned number of chapters. So this is the last crossover world that is connected to a real life TV show. But don't worry, all the worlds will still appear in the story, there will just be less description and more action (hopefully).

Sorry, I probably should have done this at the beginning of the story but better late than never, right? So, here are the featured shows: Merlin (of course, you already knew that), Supernatural, Doctor Who, Pushing Daisies. I would recommend you all of these shows but to better envision the world in this and previous chapter some pictures or videos of Pushing Daisies could help.

But if you don't want to, you can ignore this AN and leave it all to your imagination :)

Hope you like it :)

* * *

As they stepped in the car – Chuck and Ned in the front, Emerson, Merlin and Arthur unhappily squeezed in the back – the warlock and the king immediately noted something quite weird that wasn't present in Dean's. They both knew it had been Dean's car, the way he took care of it and got offended was enough proof for the warlock and the king.

In this car there was a large glass separating the driver from the other person.

Chuck turned around to explain the need for the glass but Merlin was faster.

"The glass is so that you don't touch accidentally, isn't it? Because if you two touch you die, right?" he said excitedly. Now he knew how Sam had felt when he met them.

Ned almost crashed the car, he was so surprised. But then he regained control of the car and said as calmly as he could "How do you know that? No, I actually don't want to know, not now. I'm sure you'll tell me later whether I want to know or not. But now let's just get to the Pie Hole in one piece."

And with that the drive continued in silence with Merlin looking in awe at everyone around him, Chuck looking disapprovingly at Ned, Ned glancing at the mirror from time to time to look at the two strangers, Arthur looking at Merlin with amused smile, and Emerson just looking extremely uncomfortable squished at the door.

A couple of minutes passed in this roundabout looking and they finally arrived at a weird looking building. It was shaped as a pie, at least, a part of it was.

When getting out of the car Merlin and Arthur stood gaping at the building while the rest of them quickly walked inside.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked.

"Yes?" Merlin replied.

"Did the story your mother told you have a building shaped like a pie in it?" Arthur asked absentmindedly.

"No, but there were a lot of pies in the story." Merlin answered making Arthur even more confused. Just what kind of story was it?

Meanwhile Chuck opened the door and motioned them to come inside.

The men stopped staring at the unusual building and slowly stepped inside. There was no one inside except for Chuck, Ned, Emerson, Merlin, Arthur, a big dog with golden fur and a small blonde woman.

"Hi, I'm Olive, welcome to the Pie Hole take a seat and I'll take your order in a jiffy." she introduced herself in a friendly manner even though her voice struck the friends as rather high.

"Olive, they're not costumers, they're our…" Ned started, he had already put on his apron and was moving towards the kitchen. He stopped walking and seemed at loss at how to define them.

"Our saviours, they saved us from cats. You wouldn't believe it, there were all these cats and they were running towards us and then there they were. He-"she pointed at Merlin "just said some words and the cats stopped."

Merlin blushed, he wasn't used to getting so much praise, especially from his childhood heroes. Sure, now that Arthur knew he had magic his actions were appreciated more but Arthur had never been one to express his pride in Merlin as readily as this girl.

"Olive, why don't you take Digby for a walk, it seems like he is restless, after all, we all smell of cats." Ned said, clearly unhappy that Chuck had revealed so much to Olive. But he was right, Digby was running around and smelling each of the newcomers with the exception of Ned who he very carefully avoided. With each sniff Digby dipped deeper into distress.

Olive looked unhappy. Chuck looked apologetic while Emerson shooed her away with small hand movements. She huffed and hurried out of the homely diner.

Emerson waved her out with a very fake smile.

Merlin looked at all this with barely contained joy – that had been Lady Oliveanne, she wasn't his favourite character but Digby… Well, he had a special relationship with Digby. He had even left out a squeak of joy when Digby had sniffed him.

The warlock had actually named his childhood dog after Digby but hid it by changing the name a bit and telling everyone he named his dog Digy because he liked to dig. He was already the weird kid in the village, he didn't need to be made fun of because he named his pet after a fairy tale. In truth the warlock admired the dog, how smart he was to avoid his master because of his magic. How the dog never left his master. He thought there were more going on in the creature's head than any of them could imagine.

When Olive and Digby had left the diner Emerson turned towards the medieval men.

"Ok, spill the beans. Who are you, why you are here and why he keeps squeaking like a girl?" he asked pointing at Merlin. The warlock let out another squeak, he had imagined Emerson saying the words written in the fairy tale many times, but actually hearing them being said outdid his wildest fantasies.

Arthur laughed at that, it was entertaining seeing Merlin acting so childlike. "This is Merlin, and you would act like that too if you met the characters of your favourite fairy tale in real life." he explained clapping hand on Merlin's shoulder.

"What? Fairy tale? We are not a fairy tale, at least I have never been aware of that possibility. We would make a horrible fairy tale, there would be no happily ever after, and fairy tales have princes, I'm not a prince." Ned started speaking but then stopped and looked at Emerson.

"Oh, hell no, I ain't no mushy gushy prince." Emerson looked appalled.

"Actually, the original fairy tales had no happy endings – little red riding hood got eaten, little mermaid turned into bubbles and goldilocks got eaten by the bears. Now that I think about it maybe they weren't happy endings for the main characters but the villains sure got their way. Why is it that we are supposed to root for the obviously wrong characters – goldilocks was a thief and red riding hood didn't follow simple directions to keep herself safe." Chuck said while moving towards the kitchen. Ned was leading the way, he felt like he had to bake the stress away. Merlin and Arthur followed and the line was finished by Emerson who felt the need to get the conversation back on track.

"Stop wasting our time, dead girl. Time is money and I ain't getting richer listening to you ramble about fairy tales. Now everyone in this Pie Hole shut their pie holes and let them speak." he finished.

Merlin had regained his ability to produce a noise other than squeak and got ready to start telling the fairy tale. Everyone found a comfortable place and sat down.

Ned started making the dough of the pie. He felt like this is the only way he could be able to cope with whatever Merlin would tell them.

Chuck settled in the chair nearest to Ned but was still careful not to touch him. She rested her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands. She loved stories ever since she had been little. Chuck closed her eyes, ready to let the fairy tale take her to a completely different world.

Emerson stood in the corner of the room with his hand crossed. His face was sceptical but, seeing as he hadn't objected, he too was ready to listen.

Arthur went into the other room and got a chair for himself and Merlin. Then he gave the tallest chair to Merlin, who sat on it and looked like a true story teller. The king turned his own chair so that he would be facing Merlin, he loved listening to Merlin's stories.

Merlin cleared his voice with a cough. But he didn't start with the usual "once upon a time". No, he started differently. And Arthur, who knew what was in store when Merlin told stories turned to Chuck. "Merlin tells stories a little differently, you might want to keep your eyes open."

Confused, Chuck opened her eyes. Ned slowed the movement of his hands and even Emerson started to look interested.

Merlin opened his mouth: "ætíe min cwideas for woruldfríend." Then he smiled mysteriously and began the story.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: I might have gotten a little carried away while writing this. :) Anyway, enjoy (hopefully)

* * *

"Once upon a time lived a knight called Nedallot the Endearing." Merlin began.

Ned completely blanched hearing that. Chuck let out a small laugh but Emerson who was standing in the corner just sent an amusing glance in the direction of the pie maker.

But they all stilled when on the table in front of Merlin appeared a miniature version of Nedallot on a horse and dressed in armour.

Arthur smiled at their gaping faces, he had always loved the way Merlin told his stories. And he had, after all warned them, in a way.

The mini Nedallot was simply standing there and looking around proudly, like a knight should. Merlin began to describe him.

"Nedallot was not a simple knight, oh no. He had a gift and a rare gift, at that. It was a gift he didn't want many people to know about."

The mini Nedallot immediately changed. He looked secretive and cast glances around him, as if trying to hide something.

"But about that later." Arthur was disappointed at the words, he wanted to know. The other three, on the other hand, were getting worried. They were wondering who exactly these strangers were and how they knew about Ned. Or Nedallot, as he was apparently called in the story.

"Right now we need a world for Nedallot the Endearing to live in." Merlin continued.

"The land was very different." At these words Merlin hesitated. Sensing a moment of opportunity Chuck opened her mouth. The young woman wanted to ask so many questions but decided against it. There would be plenty of time for that later and she really wanted to hear the story. Besides, she didn't know how asking a question could impact the way the story was told – would mini Nedallot have to act out the answer? Or maybe he would disappear? Whatever the case, Chuck didn't want to interrupt.

"Well, the world was different from ours" Merlin motioned between him and Arthur. "I guess for you it isn't that different. But I'll describe it anyway."

And he tried to describe it to his best ability. As he spoke the area around the mini Nedallot began to change. Beautiful flowers of every colour bloomed and small hills and houses appeared, resulting in a small scenery on the table in the kitchen.

What astonished everyone was how similar and at the same time different the small world was from the one outside the window. Both worlds were colourful, bright and full of nature. The differences lay in the details – the houses were more in the style that Arthur recognised from Camelot, to the others they just looked more medieval. The trees in the small world were more impossible – their leaves were more like feathers. In the big world they were like normal trees – just brighter.

As Merlin continued to describe the details – the animals, the air, the grass – Arthur understood something. The world Merlin described was a cross between their world and this. But the world itself, the big world seemed more similar to Sam and Dean's world. The buildings were similar and so were the roads. It just looked like someone had repainted the world to be more cheerful.

As Arthur was having this revelation Merlin had finished describing the scenery and went back to describing Nedallot's gift.

"Nedallot's gift wasn't something he wanted, he hadn't asked for it – it just appeared."

Ned's hands kneading the dough stilled. This all was almost too weird for him, all he wanted was a simple life of making pies, looked like Nedallot had wanted the same.

"He first discovered when he was just a boy."

The mini Nedallot turned into a even smaller Nedallot before their eyes.

"He was nine years, 27 weeks, six days and three minutes old when he first discovered his gift." Merlin smiled to himself, he had always enjoyed the way time and age was described in the story, it was, in part, the reason why the story had been his favourite.

"It happened on a hill covered with flowers"

A small hill similar to the one with the yellow flowers grew on the table.

"Nedallot was playing with his dog – Digby –" The warlock turned to Arthur to explain. "Even though his father had been a knight, he had gone missing and his mother didn't want Nedallot to start training at such a young age, so he hadn't yet started training his sword skills."

"Wait up scrawny guy. What's this I hear about swords? You some weird medieval sword fighting freaks?" Emerson tried to butt in but grew silent when Chuck threw a washing cloth his way and shushed him. Merlin looked offended at being called a freak and Arthur was ready to start a fight. But Merlin calmed him down with a look and started speaking again. He was determined to tell the whole story and get offended properly later.

"So, as I said, Nedallot was on the hill with Digby." Next to the mini Nedallot appeared a mini golden retriever.

"When they were attacked by bandits. Now, if Nedallot had learned to handle a sword he might have fought them off long enough for Digby to run for help. But as we know, he didn't. So he couldn't." the mini Nedallot looked terrified, his face showed true fear, Arthur couldn't help but admire how detailed and precise the spell was.

"So Digby did the only thing he could – he attacked the bandits. But he was too small, too weak for them." Merlin continued with a sad smile, when he was little this part had always brought tears to his eyes. He watched as the small dog jumped at the bandits, with no reservations, just doing what he could to protect his master.

Everyone in the Pie Hole watched the events with their breaths held. The silence was so complete that they could hear the whines of the dog as the bandits made a ring around the dog and started to mercilessly work on it with their feet, having completely forgotten about the small boy.

"Nedallot saw his chance and ran down the hill for help. He ran the shortest distance he could, just enough for the villagers to hear him but not as far as to leave Digby completely alone." Merlin broke the silence with strained voice, he enjoyed telling stories this way but at times like this he wondered if it was worth it, if it was worth seeing the hurt to see the love.

The mini Nedallot ran and shouted for help, his quiet voice echoed in the room.

"It wasn't long till the villagers heard and a couple of the bravest knights ran up the hill. Together they ran to the bandits and Digby."

On the table a small group of armoured knights appeared and followed Nedallot who lead them to the bandits.

"The knights caught the bandits. But Nedallot was too late, Digby's soul had left his body."

Chuck felt her cheeks grow wet as she looked at the small figure crying and clutching the body of the dog.

"And then, in a moment of complete despair, Nedallot discovered his gift." Merlin smiled a little, as a child he had identified with this moment very much even though he had had his powers all his life.

The small figure looked up from where he was clutching the dog and a golden thread appeared. It was stretching up from the body to the sky. Nedallot clutched the thread and yanked it back. Not knowing what to do with it, just following his instincts Nedallot put the thread in his pocket.

"And as he did this, Digby jumped up and started running around again, like nothing had happened." Merlin said as the figure of the dog became full of life again. Everyone let out a sigh of relief at the sight.

"But Digby started acting weird, when Nedallot tried to hug his pet in joy Digby avoided him."

The small figures ran around, Nedallot trying to catch Dibgy and the dog evading.

"And that is how Digby came to forever stay three years, two weeks, six days, five hours and nine minutes old." Merlin remarked as the miniature dog and the boy ran around the hill.

The scenery changed as Merlin continued. "Later that night Nedallot's mother was baking a pie for him - she had decided that her boy should start practicing sword fighting. She knew Nedallot didn't like fighting; he didn't like conflicts and always avoided the other boys. So she did what she always had – bake a delicious pie that Ned could eat after learning the bad news."

Tears ran to Ned's eyes when he saw the small figure of his mother, he had started to forget what she looked like. The interior of the house was different but his mother looked just like she had when he last saw her.

"But something horrible happened – Nedallot's mother slipped and fell. And it wasn't a fall she could simply get up from." Merlin continued.

The small figure on the table fell and hit her head on the corner of the oven. A golden thread immediately appeared in the air. Little Nedallot watched in horror until he remembered what he had done with Digby. He grabbed the thread and pushed it into his pocket.

"His mother got up but Nedallot learned another thing about his power that night. Right about then his neighbour's Lady Charlotte's father came to the door. He had had a long day of training and was quite tired. Ned watched through the window as he always did at this time – he thought he could catch a glimpse of Charlotte, she usually ran out to greet her father. At that moment something incredibly sad happened." Merlin stopped, he couldn't continue. So he let the figures speak for themselves.

The mini Nedallot watched in horror as Charlotte's father fell down just as he had reached the door. A golden thread appeared in the air and, though Ned wanted to run out and grab it, his feet wouldn't move. The evening passed, with Nedallot barely registering anything and Lady Charlotte running to her father and crying over his body. Nedallot's mother had gone out to comfort her and came back only after leaving Charlotte at the hands of her aunts. By the time she came back Nedallot had already eaten the pie and was waiting in his bead for his mother to kiss him goodnight.

Merlin turned away his head. He didn't notice it but Ned did the same.

As Nedallot's mother kissed him the thread flew out of his pocket and disappeared in thin air. The boy's mother dropped on the floor and didn't move. Nedallot desperately grabbed through air, thinking that maybe, just maybe the thread was only invisible, he didn't want to believe that it was gone.

Chuck looked at Ned with tears in her eyes, he had told her what had happened but seeing it with her own eyes broke her heart.

"After that lady Charlotte moved away with her aunts. And Nedallot grew up all alone, except for Digby who never changed and followed his master wherever he went. Nedallot grew up fearing and resenting his gift – every time he went to visit his mother at her grave he would see thousands of golden threads going into the sky. It looked like every inch of the ground had a thread attached to it. Every inch except for his mother's grave."

Now an older figure, the mini Nedallot ran away from the cemetery. Everywhere he went golden threads appeared all around him.

"But even with resenting the gift he couldn't deny that it had given him one good thing – his constant companion who did all in his power, save touching him, to cheer up his master."

The figure grew older, changed as the landscape around him changed but one figure remained the same – Digby.

"One day the fair knight had had enough of feeling like he didn't belong anywhere. And he decided to make a home for himself – somewhere no one would know what had happened to him, someplace where he knew no one would ask questions. That is how he, a 22 years, 9 months, 12 days, 7 hours, and 38 minutes old man, decided to open his own tavern. But it wouldn't be a normal tavern."

The figures changed, Nedallot put on an apron and shook hands with a small blonde woman – Lady Oliveanne. A small building appeared and in it stood Nedallot, cooking pies.

"Some years passed and the tavern started to have problems – Nedallot's pies were delicious but people rarely went to taverns for pies, they wanted ale, and lots of it. Nedallot feared he would have to sell the tavern and travel in search of a home again."

The figure on the table illustrated it very expressively – he was walking around the tavern very nervously and had started to pack his belongings.

"But help came where no one expected it – a bounty hunter named sir Emersonian was riding past when he decided to go in for some pie. He was chasing an escaped evil sorcerer."

Everyone turned to Emerson in the corner.

"Bounty hunter? Yeah, that could be me." He said and turned to the figures on the table with some interest.

The figures showed the evil sorcerer attempting to hide in the tavern but jumping up in panic when Emersonian came in. The sorcerer lost his balance on a piece of pie that was lying on the floor. Nedallot was about to pick it up when falling the sorcerer hit his head and, Nedallot watching in horror, fell right towards him with the golden thread following soon after. Emersonian just watched as the lifeless figure of the sorcerer fell on Nedallot and the next moment it jolted up and started sprinting towards the exit with Nedallot chasing it and, with a touch, returning it to the previous state.

"And that was how at the age of 25 years, 2 months, 3 days, 5 hours and 54 minutes the partnership between Nedallot the Endearing and sir Emersonian was born and Nedallot learned to accept his gift as a tool, not a thing to be frightened from." Merlin supplied commentary for the events.

"Again some time passed and Nedallot with sir Emersonian travelled to a nearby town to try and earn the bounty for catching the killer of a young woman. They had gone into the habit of waking the victim to ask some questions if the killer was unknown." Merlin explained to Arthur, as he seemed to be the only one who didn't understand how bounty hunting could be connected to Nedallot's gift.

The figures continued moving. Nedallot entered the room where the victim was held before her family would claim her. There he saw the brightest and most beautiful golden thread he had ever seen.

"Looking at her face he saw that it was Lady Charlotte, his first and, to this date, only love." Merlin said with a shy smile, he had always enjoyed this part. In fact, as a child he had developed a bit of a crush on Lady Charlotte.

"Nedallot's powers had progressed with time and now he didn't have to grab the golden thread, he could just touch the person and the golden thread would retreat into him from the touch." Merlin stopped, he didn't want to interrupt the wonderful moment with needless words.

The figure of Nedallot reached out and, with small hesitation, embraced lady Charlotte. The golden thread with incredible light retreated into him.

Ned and Chuck blushed, they both remembered how small the touch had really been and couldn't help but feel some jealousy towards their smaller counterparts.

"And that was how Nedallot the Endearing at the age of 29 years, 6 months, 10 days, 11 hours and 13 minutes reunited with his love and started to see his gift as a way of helping people. That was how he learned to not resent his gift." Merlin whispered with a dreamy smile.

"Nedallot would forever remember the warm embrace of Lady Charlotte, because that was the last time they ever touched – one more touch and the golden thread would fly out of Nedallot and disappear forever." He continued but was interrupted by Arthur.

"Wait, didn't anybody else die in her place? Like with her father?" he asked.

"Yes, but the one who died was her killer." Merlin explained.

"And so sir Emersonian the bounty hunter, lady Oliveanne, and lady Charlotte helped sir Nedallot the Endearing to come to terms with his power and accept it for what it is – a gift. They all continued to live happily but, in the case of Lady Charlotte and Nedallot the Endearing, very carefully. They went on many other adventures together and saved a lot of people but that is a story for another time." Merlin smiled as he finished the story.

The small figures bowed and Chuck burst into applause, followed by Arthur and Emerson. Ned just stood there frozen, he was still trying to deal with the fact that his whole life was a fairy tale, sure, some details were different but the main events stayed the same.

If it had been just a story he would have found it easier but seeing it played out right before his eyes, how was he expected to deal with it?


	15. Chapter 15

"Well, the main events are the same but I'm Ned, not Nedallot. And my "gift" works a little differently than you described. There is no thread at all, there is just a small spark. I touch them, there is the spark, they are alive and I have to touch them again before a minute is up. Otherwise someone else dies." Ned spoke quietly but quickly, he was still in shock.

"Can you show us?" Arthur asked, the fairy tale had made him more interested in the strangers. Only they weren't strangers anymore, now they felt like old friends. Hearing, or rather, seeing the fairy tale had made Arthur, and also Merlin, feel closer to these people.

Ned sighed, he usually only picked up the berries when the pie needed filling. Now the berry would be useless, as he was sure he couldn't avoid touching it again to make the filling of the pie. However, he had also never been asked to demonstrate his power so openly. So he picked up a strawberry that was lying in a bowl on the table next to the now forgotten dough.

The strawberry was rotten and looked unappetizing. But when Ned's fingers touched it the berry bloomed into colour and looked like the tastiest strawberry in the world.

Looking at this Merlin smiled like the sun and was barely containing his joy. It was different from what he had imagined as a child but it was still wonderful. It brought him back to his childhood where he had specially sought out rotten fruit to test if he could see the threads.

Arthur just gaped at it, it was one thing hearing about it and seeing Merlin's version. It was a completely different thing to see it in reality.

"OK, now that our boy has shown what he can do and we all saw what your boy could do why don't you tell us all what you're doing here?" Emerson asked matter-of-factly. Sure, the story telling was breath-taking but it didn't bring him any cash.

Merlin and Arthur looked at each other. Then Arthur decided it was his time to speak.

But Chuck interrupted him and said "Let's go to the table, eat some pie. I'm starving after all that running." With that she turned to take one of the pies from the counter and sat down at a table near the window.

Merlin and Arthur followed suit, each taking a piece of a pie. Merlin took what he suspected to be a raspberry pie while Arthur picked apple pie. They weren't particularly hungry but no one could resist pies that had been part of a fairy tale.

Ned followed them but he didn't take a pie. Emerson, however, boldly took the biggest pie - rhubarb pie.

As they all sat down around the table Arthur began their story. He and Merlin ate their pies slowly, savouring each bite.

They explained everything in the same fashion – with no rush and thoroughly.

Chuck asked some questions about Sam and Dean and their world. She seemed particularly interested in the subject of angels. The young woman had read a lot of books while living with her aunts and one of them had been a philosophical discussion about the possibility of angels and their powers and presence in the human world.

Merlin and Arthur didn't exactly know how to respond to the questions about the source of Castiel's powers or his true form but they replied to best of their abilities. They just wished Castiel himself could be here – Chuck could get better answers from him.

Meanwhile Emerson seemed more interested in the technology in the world of the Doctor – he was thinking about how it could be profitable.

Again the king and the warlock wished the man himself had been here.

But what came as the biggest surprise after they had finished their story was Ned's interest in their world. After hearing fairy tale about himself and how his powers had been interpreted there, the world was intriguing for him.

Merlin and Arthur replied to all his questions. And in this case they didn't wish for anyone else to be here to answer – they felt quite honoured to be the ones who would introduce Nedallot the Endearing, or here, simply Ned, to the world where he was a fairy tale character.

Merlin described the magic side of the world – how there were witches, and warlocks and sorcerers, what were the differences. He spoke about all different kinds of spells, creatures and magical objects.

Arthur told them about the non-magical part – the knights, the castle, the noblemen, what everyday life of the king was. He spoke in detail about wars, the kingdoms bordering his, the weapons and the customs of Camelot.

"Wait, you're a king?" Emerson asked interrupting Arthur as he was describing council meetings. Merlin thought Arthur was going into too much details, even being in the meetings was boring – listening about them wasn't much more interesting.

"Yes, I'm the king of Camelot. And Merlin is my court sorcerer."

"Khmm- warlock" Merlin faked a cough and corrected the king. He had explained the difference many times but Arthur just didn't seem to learn.

"Well, it is really weird to be a fairy tale character in a world like that. I don't know if I should feel honoured. Actually, I feel quite weird now." Ned remarked, still reeling from the information.

"We know how you feel, until now every world we visited had some kind of legends about us and Camelot. And with these legends came their expectations of us." Arthur agreed, he knew how the pie maker felt.

"Yes, everyone we met said things like "I thought you would be taller." or "You were a lot older in the story". I actually felt like I was constantly compared to the image of me they had from the legends." Merlin added.

Everyone sat in silence, they understood these feelings, in fact, they had all experienced them.

"So, I'm thinking all this disappearing business can't be good. But what will we get from it if we help you? Ain't nothing disappearing here." Emerson was interested in more practical things.

"Nothing is disappearing here _yet."_ Chuck remarked just as Merlin had opened his mouth to point out the same thing.

"And I would like to help them even if there would be nothing to gain. Though, one would think that saving a world would come with its own benefits. You know, if the world still exists you could visit it and get some customers there." Ned explained, he had known Emerson longer and knew the right way to convince him.

Throughout all this conversation Arthur looked shocked – he hadn't expected the characters from a fairy tale to care only about what could be gained. But then again, they weren't exactly the characters, they were a version of the characters that was living and breathing in another world.

"The best way to help would be by figuring out why the worlds are connected." Chuck said.

"That would be great but I don't think we can wait here to figure it out." Merlin objected.

"Yes, he is right. We should get back to our world to see the situation there. Maybe it was just something temporary and everything is back to normal. Or maybe-" Arthur started but stopped himself, he didn't even want to think about how far the disappearing could have spread while they were away.

"We would love to help you find the portal but judging by your story there was always something unusual around them – animals or colour disappearing. But I haven't noticed anything out of ordinary here. Have you?" Chuck said and turned to the other natives who each shook their heads.

Merlin and Arthur looked at each other in panic – was this the last world? Would they have to stay here forever without ever seeing their loved ones again?

They both became increasingly worried – so far their adventure had been harmless, they had always relied on another portal being nearby, and it has always been there. Now they started to regret following their urges and going into the portal.


	16. Chapter 16

"Is there no way of contacting the others? Maybe Castiel has found out something, or perhaps the Doctor could help." Chuck, seeing their distress, tried to help.

Everyone stood around for a while. They were each trying to think of a way to contact the other worlds.

"Doesn't your mirror work? Maybe it can access the mirrors from another worlds." Arthur asked Merlin.

"Sadly, no. The mirrors work only because of the spell put on them. I didn't enchant any mirrors at the other worlds, so it probably will not work." the warlock explained.

"Hey, seeing as no one has any ideas at the moment. Why don't you enchant a mirror here?" Chuck suggested. "That way you could contact us if you get any news." she said and ran off to get a mirror.

Merlin had already taken out his mirror and placed it on the counter when Chuck came back. She was carrying a large mirror that covered half of her body. Not without effort she carefully placed the mirror next to Merlin's.

The warlock just looked at her in question.

"I was going to take a small mirror but then I thought "If we had a bigger mirror it would be easier to see." And it would be easier to notice you trying to contact us." she explained and slumped on the chair. Carrying the mirror had been difficult.

"That sounds logical. But you could have told us before, we would have helped you carry it." Arthur said. Chuck just shrugged, she had had the idea at the last moment and it seemed faster to just get the mirror by herself.

Meanwhile Merlin was starting the spell. He put one hand over each mirror. Then he started the incantation "Sunscín macan inbende. Hwæt cíegere beháwaþ oþres hæfde blícan."

The warlock's eyes flashed golden and the mirrors shined in the same colour. Then the shine was gone and the mirrors looked unchanged.

"Did it work?" Ned asked.

"My magic did all it could. But it felt like it worked." Merlin answered.

"Should we test it?" Chuck wanted to see the mirrors in action.

"Why not, it doesn't seem like we have anything else to do – since no one has had any ideas about how to contact the other worlds." Arthur added.

Merlin took his small mirror and went into another room. After a few moments everyone in the room saw him appear on the big mirror. He was waving his hand.

Chuck, Ned and Emerson became very happy to now have a way to contact the warlock and the king if they ever left.

But the mirror also reminded them of the problem they faced – the mirror would be completely useless if Merlin and Arthur were stuck here.

So, as Merlin came back from the other room everyone was deep in thought again.

Merlin and Arthur exchanged a look. They both understood that the distraction was over – now they had to face the reality of their situation again. Looking at the faces of the others they saw no sudden realizations, hope seemed to be lost.

And then, right when everyone was on the brink of falling into despair over their helplessness, an idea came. And it came from the most unexpected source.

"Wait, Castiel is an angel, right?" uttered Emerson.

"Yes, in exact words he is "an angel of the lord". At least he said he was when we last saw him." Merlin said hesitantly, he wasn't sure where this was going.

"Well then, how do people speak to angels?" Emerson continued.

"With their mouths?" Arthur asked still unable to comprehend. When they had seen Castiel he was talking like a normal person. In fact, if they hadn't known he was an angel they would think he was simply a very powerful warlock.

Meanwhile Chuck had understood what Emerson was hinting at.

"Praying! You have to pray to him!" she exclaimed.

"Well, we can try. But what is praying and how can one do it? Will it hurt?" Merlin asked. If it was a way to contact the other worlds he was ready to try it, no matter how dangerous or risky it would be.

Ned laughed at that, they definitely weren't from this world.

"No, it won't hurt. But you might feel silly doing it." he said with a smile.

"First you have to get on your knees and put your hands like this." Chuck demonstrated.

Merlin and Arthur followed her movements.

"Next. There are two options. One, you can just think your prayer in your head, just remember to end it with "amen". For example, close your eyes and think to Castiel, wish him to be here, then think the word "amen" and make a cross like this." she again demonstrated.

"What is the other option?" Arthur asked, not believing that simply thinking about someone could bring them here.

"You ain't gonna like the option number two." Emerson chuckled to himself. Merlin and Arthur just looked at him, not understanding what was so funny.

"The second option is almost the same, you just have to say the words out loud, not think them." Chuck smiled at the men.

"Ned was right, this is embarrassing." Arthur remarked but still took his position next to Merlin and closed his eyes.

The king used the speaking out loud method while Merlin, who had more faith in achieving things by the power of mind thought about Castiel as hard as he could. Before ending the prayer he had an idea and added the plea for the angel to take a mirror with him. The warlock felt magic bubbling up inside him, reacting to his wish and then flowing out into the air as he thought the word "amen".

Beside him Arthur just felt silly. "Dear Castiel, we would appreciate it if you could come here. Ermm, or contact us in any way. We are in this very colourful world, in a building called "The Pie Hole". So please come here if you can, amen." Quickly making the cross he stood up and looked around searching for the angel.

Merlin stood up more calmly, he had felt his magic working, and while he still had no idea what it would do, he felt assured that he had done all he could.

Now all that was left to do was wait. And hope that the angel had heard them.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Sorry for the long break, had some stuff to do. Anyway, my study year will be starting next week, so you can expect the updates to be more or less regular (it's easier to get myself to do stuff if it's part of a routine). Thanks for the reviews, enjoy (hopefully) :)

* * *

They didn't have to wait long. The angel soon appeared in the Pie Hole, making not as much as a sound.

Chuck had envisioned the angel to be completely different. Firstly, she had expected wings, or some halo. The man in front of her looked ordinary, even tired. Tired wasn't a word Chuck would have expected to use when describing an angel but right now it was the only one that came to her mind. The angel's eyes looked weary, like he had seen far more than anyone ever should. But it wasn't just the eyes, the man found the nearest chair and slumped in it – he was exhausted.

If it weren't for the way he had appeared – out of thin air – Chuck would have confused him with a customer. Sure, an extremely tired customer in need of coffee and a good pie, but a customer nevertheless.

Meanwhile Ned was wondering about the way the angel had appeared – he had expected some gush of wind, angelic music, voices, anything but this. The pie maker thought about how one moment there had been nothing and the next – an angel and it made him uneasy. Sure, Arthur and Merlin had said the angel was friendly and meant no harm, but that didn't mean Ned would let his guard down – he was vary of strangers and this was no exception. And a stranger that could show up and leave at any moment didn't exactly scream 'trust me'.

Arthur had no such doubts about Castiel. The king knew that Sam and Dean trusted him and since he for whatever reason felt like he could trust their judgment, his trust was extended to the angel too. He was more surprised that the prayers had actually worked. Arthur had felt ridiculous doing it and hadn't felt any hint that the angel had heard him. "It must have been Merlin," he thought and turned to his friend.

Merlin was smiling, he knew Castiel would come, his magic had done its work. However, the warlock was surprised seeing that the angel hadn't come alone.

"Hello, Clara, are there any news from the Doctor?" he greeted the girl.

"Yes, we have news, but they are not necessarily from the Doctor. Castiel will tell you about it, after all, he was the one who found it." Clara replied smiling at the angel. It looked like she had coped with the method of transportation better than Arthur and Merlin or even Castiel himself.

"We don't have time for idle chat. We, well, mostly I, found out more about the portal. " Castiel said without hesitation. He stopped to catch his breath, the trip had exhausted him – it had been hard enough to teleport in different worlds, but having a passenger with him made it feel like he was moving an army with him.

As he caught his breath he looked around. However, he didn't seem surprised by his surroundings. Well, he didn't seem surprised to the people around him, had Sam or Dean been there they would immediately notice the way the angel's eyes widened. They would have seen how the colours confused the angel. And Dean would have made a joke to try and ease the angel into his surroundings.

But Merlin didn't notice any of that. And Merlin didn't know that a joke would help. So in all seriousness he asked: "Wait, doesn't this land surprise you? Don't you feel anything?"

"Yes, I do find the surroundings rather unusual. But it is no matter to me, I have seen many different realities. I could say heaven reminds me a little of this, at least the heaven of one particular man. I think his name was Bryan." The angel quickly explained. It seemed like he was quickly regaining his strength.

He turned to Arthur and spoke to both the warlock and the king. "You must hurry, your world is in danger, and subsequently, so will be my, hers and theirs." He pointed to the groups of people, beginning with Arthur and Merlin, then himself, Clara and the rest.

If before the conversation had taken a light tone now everybody had lost the will to smile and joke.

Arthur felt something sink in his stomach – worrying about his kingdom was one thing, but knowing it was definitely in danger, and he wasn't anywhere near it to defend it, well, that was even worse. He hoped Guinevere was taking good care of everything but worried at the burden she had to carry.

"I hurried here as fast as I could. Luckily, my powers seem to work regardless of the world I'm in. Though they do appear to require more effort." the angel quickly explained.

"Powers?" Chuck whispered to Merlin.

"Yes, he can teleport himself and others, it is a fast way to travel. You saw yourself – appearing out of thin air." Merlin quickly responded and turned his attention back to the angel.

"While in my world I consulted with every source of knowledge known to beast, demons, angels. Well, everyone aside from humans. Sam and Dean had the human part covered, they checked everything in the library of the men of letters." Cas tried to relay the scope of the search. Ned had to admit, it sounded impressive. Especially, considering it had been done in so little time – it couldn't have been more than a week since Merlin and Arthur left their world.

"It wasn't easy and the information was scarce. But we managed to find out that the portals work in a ring-like formation. We knew the first two stops along the ring." The angel motioned for a pen and paper. Emerson, standing the closest to the napkin dispenser, provided the paper in a form of a napkin.

Ned produced a pen that had been in a nearby drawer.

The angel began to draw a circle like formation, it wasn't a simple circle, there were ornaments around it and it looked quite elaborate. But one could see that the overall shape was a circle. And the circle had five main points. The angel connected the points and a pentagram appeared.

"So, as you can see, according to the knowledge available in our world, there must be five stops." Cas continued and wrote Camelot on the first point. Then he hesitated a bit before writing Sam and Dean on the next point.

"Your world is called Sam and Dean?" Chuck asked surprised.

"No, our world is called the Earth. And we live in the USA, but seeing as how Clara told me that their world also has an USA and an Earth, I think it would be better to refer to them in this way." The angel finished his drawing and passed the pen to Clara.

Clara had been quietly listening for the most of the conversation, this had all been information she had heard once before. Now it was her time to fill in the blanks left by the angel. As she took the pen Castiel slumped in the chair, fully intending to rest and gain back his full power.

"When Cas came through the portal we were already waiting for him. He didn't seem surprised, like here. He had already expected to end up in another world. We took him into the Tardis, he told us all that he just told you. Of course, there were a lot more conversation – the Doctor is never one to just sit by and calmly listen."

Arthur smiled at this, seems like the Doctor had gotten over his disappointment at not being able to come.

"And then we went to the Library." Clara paused, trying to convey how important this was.

"Seems to me like all you people had done was read lots of books, what happened to good old fashioned snooping around?" Emerson expressed his disappointment, he had expected a tale of adventure and all he had got so far was people reading.

"The Library was extremely big, I had never seen anything as immense or containing as many books, not even the Library of Alexandria." The angel felt like he had to explain to help the others picture the library. Then he quieted down, letting Clara continue.

"Well, the Library isn't just any library – it is the Library in the Tardis. And everything is bigger in it. You could even get lost in it, I once was."

Chuck was intrigued – a huge library and plenty of place to explore with the option to go wherever her heart pleased, it sounded like a dream.


	18. Chapter 18

"In the library we found a book – it was an unusual and was hidden in the darkest corner. Of course, the most important books are always at the least convenient places. It took us three days to find that dark corner." Clara sighed, it had been hard.

"Wait, three days? But it has barely been a day here!" Ned exclaimed.

"The Tardis works differently, we could have spent a whole year there and coming out it could have been just a day, that's just one of the particularities of the Tardis." Clara explained.

"Anyway, in this weird book we found, rather, the Doctor found – the book wouldn't let anyone else touch it – the rest of the points." Saying this she began writing on the napkin.

First she next to "Camelot" wrote – Land of dragons, knights and magic. Next to "Sam and Dean" she wrote – Land of angels, demons and free will. Then she moved over to the blank points.

There she wrote - Land of science, aliens and time. Then – Land of death, colours and nature. And lastly, Land of mystery, wonder and space.

Finishing the drawing she passed the napkin around.

"Well, seeing as our world has dragons, though only two are left, it could be called the land of dragons, but hardly." Merlin had doubts about the name assigned to Camelot.

"Our title is quite precise, sure, there are other monsters but we really lately deal more with angels and demons. And we do value free will above most things. At least some of us." Castiel remarked, he didn't need to look at the napkin, he had been there when they discovered this information.

"All I can say about our title is that it's a vague as can be. But it still applies – we are travelling in time. And I guess the Tardis and the sonic screwdriver are scientific tools." Clara shrugged. Looking around she remembered how jealous the Doctor had been that she would get to visit these worlds while he had to stay with the Tardis.

"I like our title, it makes for a great contrast – death and the bright colours. And of course, Ned wakes the dead, so it's fitting." Chuck agreed.

"So, if I'm understanding this correctly, going through one more world would bring Merlin and Arthur back to Camelot. But what is this Land of mystery? And why do we need to hurry?" Ned asked trying to understand everything.

"Well, you heard the title, genius. It's a mystery." Emerson remarked.

"He is right, every world was described in the book. Sure, not every detail was given about the places but the general appearance was explained. For every world save for the land of mystery. And as to why we must hurry – the book mentioned that the portals serve as pathways through the worlds. In Merlin and Arthur's world things are starting to lose their colour and disappear, it is starting to affect the other worlds too. We need to get to their world to see if we can find out what is wrong – maybe we, from the other worlds can recognise the threat." Clara spoke quickly.

"That is why we must ask you to also choose a person to come with us – maybe something from your world has slipped through the portal and caused this reaction. Maybe it is some sort of disease. Whatever it is, we must act quickly, as the book suggested that, once the pathways have been used, more and more will start to slip through." Castiel said.

"Now, while you decide amongst yourselves, I will go and look for the portal leading away from this world." With that he simply disappeared.

"Ok, who volunteers?" Clara asked turning at Emerson, Ned, and Chuck.

"I sure as hell won't go. Ain't no money big enough to make me go to "Mystery land" and lose my head" Emerson immediately refused the option.

"I don't like change, and I certainly wouldn't like to suddenly be in another world. I like stability, I have my Pie Hole here, everything is right with it and I don't want to go looking for trouble." Ned also refused.

Chuck, on the other hand, seemed eager to go on an adventure. "I promise I will be back. And I won't let anything bad happen to me" She assured Ned who seemed worried at letting Chuck go. With a smile she turned to Merlin, Arthur and Clara.

"I'm Clara, by the way, I travel with the Doctor who is a timelord with two hearts. I don't remember if I already introduced myself." Clara smiled back and extended her hand.

"You didn't, but Merlin and Arthur told me all about you and the Doctor. I'm Chuck, I was dead but Ned brought me back to life and now we can't touch or I would die." The young woman shook her hand.

"That sounds horrible. But you'll tell me more after we save the worlds" Clara replied.

"Wait, aren't we forgetting something?" Merlin asked when a comfortable silence fell on the group.

"No, I think I told you everything. What more is there to do than wait for Cas?" Clara was confused.

But Chuck understood immediately what Merlin had meant.

"Do you have a mirror with you?" she asked the young woman.

"Oh, that. Yes, I have one with me. Although I doubt Cas has one. When he heard your prayer he was already in our world." Clara replied and took out a small mirror from her pocket. The mirror was simple, with a black handle. The scratches on its back suggested that it was an old mirror.

"This was my mother's. I know it looks simple but that is the beauty of it. The makers of this mirror knew that the main things about mirror are what it shows, not how it looks. The mirror is not the mirror, the mirror is the reflection." She looked at the mirror fondly and handed it to Merlin.

Arthur looked at Merlin and mouthed "What does she mean?". Merlin shook his head, he had no idea either, the mirror wasn't the mirror? It didn't make sense. But the warlock nevertheless smiled at Clara and thanked her.

"This is great, now we will be able to contact the Doctor and Clara. But what will we do with Cas? How will we be able to communicate with him?" Arthur asked, reminding everyone of the problem they faced.

"Well, the spell, that is, if it will work when we are in different worlds, will connect any two mirrors. But I thought we would have a better chance of succeeding if one of the mirrors is originally from the world we want to communicate with. That's why I asked you to bring your own mirrors, Clara." Merlin explained turning to Clara who looked more and more confused with each word.

"Wait, you want to put a spell on the mirrors to use them like mobile phones?" she asked.

"Basically, yes, that is what they want. Of course, we have cell phones here too but I doubt there is a provider capable of making a connection between different dimensions. Besides, they"– Chuck pointed at Merlin and Arthur – "come from a world without cell phones. Since this is the only way of communication across great distance for them I think it's our best bet." Chuck finished and drew in a breath.

"Good point, dead girl." Emerson, who had been listening to their conversation from the corner remarked.

"Ok, I understood. Now, let's make these mirrors into phones!" Clara enthusiastically said.

Merlin and Arthur just looked confused. Was "cell phone" and "mobile phone" the same as the small box that Dean had? But, deciding it was less important than making the mirrors connected they resolved to solve that mystery later.

"Fine, we will need another mirror for Cas. Maybe it will not work but it is better than not trying at all." Arthur took the lead, he was used to leading a group of knights so organizing the activities of the group came easy to him.

"Ned, do you have a small mirror around here? One that could fit in a pocket maybe?" The king asked the Pie maker. He figured Ned had lived here the longest and would be the person who would find such a thing the quickest.

"I-I I think I know where one is." Ned replied, startled by the change he saw in the man. Arthur had an air of confidence about him and looking at the man now Ned certainly saw the king he was.

The Pie maker rushed out of the room and came back a little later holding a small rectangular mirror in a white frame.

"White, I guess that is fitting for an angel." Chuck remarked.

"Thank you, now please place the mirror on the table. You too, Merlin." Arthur ordered in a friendly voice.

Merlin placed Clara's mirror carefully on the table next to the one Ned had brought. He took out his own mirror and placed the three in a triangle formation. As all three mirrors lay on the table Arthur waved at Merlin, without words asking him to take over the lead. Merlin stood up and started the spell.

"Sunscín macan inbende. Hwæt cíegere beháwaþ oþres hæfde blícan" he said with hands hovering over the three mirrors. The warlock's eyes turned golden and the mirrors shone briefly.

"That should work" Merlin said when his eyes returned to their original colour. Clara took back her mirror and was about to put it in her pocket when she got an idea.

"Hey, can you see me in the mirrors?" She said and waved her hand in front of her mirror.

"No, that's not how it wor-" Merlin began to argue but was interrupted when Arthur poked him and pointed to the rest of the mirrors, including the one on the wall that they had enchanted earlier.

All of the mirrors showed a smiling Clara waving her hand.

"But… how?" Merlin was confused. "In Camelot I am the one who can start the connection, all the other mirrors I enchanted simply provide the chance to respond. Aside from Gaius's mirror. But he has magic so that is different. Only people with magic can initiate the mirror connections." the warlock expressed his surprise.

"Maybe the fact that we are from different worlds is magic enough to make us able to do it?" Chuck tried to explain.

"Let me try." Emerson stood up and walked up to the big mirror.

"Hello everyone, I am speaking to you through a mirror." He said.

And, sure enough, Emerson appeared on all the mirrors.

"Well, maybe your magic is stronger than you thought. It wouldn't be the first time you underestimate yourself. " Arthur clapped his friend on the back. "Well, no matter, this is better than we expected. Now everyone will be able to contact everyone with any news they might find out. Good job, Merlin." The king gave the warlock a hug, he felt like this deserved more than just a pat on the back.

"Now that we have a way of communication shouldn't we come up with a plan of what to do if the mystery land is dangerous?" Chuck asked smiling at how close the king and the warlock seemed.

The four travellers sat at the table and began drawing up a plan while Emerson turned back to his pie and Ned looked at the big mirror with a small smile. His mind felt more at ease now that he knew he could contact Chuck while she was away.


	19. Chapter 19

As the foursome at the table conversed, Ned started baking again. He needed to think about all that had happened, and baking usually helped him understand and organize things in his head.

He took the dough that had stood forgotten on the table from when Merlin had told the fairy tale. The pie maker started making the pie. Rolling out the dough his thoughts became clearer. As he started to make the filling he had almost come to terms with the events. When he put the pie in the oven he was calm again – Chuck had made a choice and he would respect it. He trusted her and he knew she wouldn't let anything happen to herself. And if she would be unable to help herself Merlin and his magic would surely come to aid. With that the Pie Maker sat down and started to put the dough in the pan, now with a much calmer mind. After finishing the pie and putting it in the oven he started to mix another dough – after all, he had to make enough pies to give to the customers – seeing as how the guests from the other worlds seemed keen on eating all the pies in the diner without paying for them.

Meanwhile Emerson was sitting at a separate table and playing his part in the disappearance of the pies. He was disappointed at how none of this new information seemed to be profitable to him. Sure, they would save the world. Scratch that, they would save worlds, plural, not just one. But all they would get for it would be trouble. And it troubled him that he seemed to be the only one realizing this.

The diner had fallen into a silence, only hushed whispers from Merlin, Clara, Chuck and Arthur could be heard.

In this silence Castiel appeared, at first unnoticed by anyone. He was breathing heavily but seemed to have much more energy than the last time he had shown up in the diner. The first one who noticed him was Emerson who cast his eyes up from the pie.

"Hey, the whispering quartet! Your transportation is here." He remarked loud enough to draw the attention of the group.

"I am not transportation. I am an angel of the lord. You should treat me with some respect." Castiel glared at Emerson, he hadn't felt much affection for the man before and this remark certainly didn't make him warm up to Emerson.

"And I come with some good news, I found the portal." Cas continued still breathing heavily but starting to regain his strength.

"That is great! We have come up with a plan of what to do if the next world is dangerous." Arthur replied.

"Yes, we are not sure what to expect but we have talked over many possibilities." Clara added.

"It is good that you have not wasted the time like some others here." the angel shot a look at Emerson who seemed undisturbed and continued eating his pie.

"But I have bad news too. The portal is quite far away and the fastest way there would be if I just teleported you." Castiel said unwillingly, he didn't like the fact that the man had been right – in this case he really was transportation provider. Meanwhile Emerson chuckled at the angel actually admitting that he was transport.

Arthur and Merlin blanched at the thought. They had fared quite well the last time they were transported this way. But they remembered how tired Castiel had been when he had appeared with Clara.

Clara too remembered it. She looked at the angel in worry and opened her mouth to ask the question everyone was thinking about.

But Chuck turned out to be faster. "Are you sure? You still look tired and if it took so much out of you transport just one person… Think of what it means to move the four of us. Wouldn't it be safer to go in a car?" she asked with a worried look, she liked the angel and didn't want him to injure himself just so they would get to the portal faster.

"I appreciate your concern but you must remember – I am far stronger than I look. I admit, the trip will require some power but that just means I will have to rest more. Nothing bad will happen to me and my strength will be back." Castiel replied looking better and no longer breathing heavily.

With his words he had managed to calm most of them. But Merlin still had his doubts; he looked at the angel deep in thought.

"Let's go then, there is no time to be wasted – Arthur and Merlin's world might be in danger." Clara said trying to break up the silence that had fallen on the diner.

"I'll transport you by one to make it easier. But I will not go until all of you are there, so please stay in one place and do not wander away." The angel warned and motioned for Clara to come forward.

He moved his hand, intending to put it on the girl's forehead when Merlin stopped him.

"I have an idea how to make this even easier for you." With that the warlock put his hand on the angel's shoulder and nodded at the confused Castiel to continue.

As Castiel pressed his fingers on Clara's forehead Merlin let his magic flow through himself and onto the angel. Clara disappeared and the angel turned to Merlin.

"I am not as tired as I should be. What exactly did you do, Merlin?" Cas asked in wonder.

"He gave you a hand with his magic." Arthur explained, he had seen Merlin use magic many times. And, as they were such good friends he had immediately known what Merlin was doing to the angel.

"Thank you, it is very helpful. Should we transport the next person?" Cas asked putting the emphasis on we and showing that he recognised this as a teamwork. His face showed gratitude in what almost looked like a smile. The angel had been so serious all the time that the almost-smile took the warlock by surprise and he could just smile back and nod.

Arthur had been the next to be transported, so that he would be able to assess the situation better with the eye of the leader and come up with a fast way for all of them to get through the portal – it was, apparently, big enough to fit only one person at a time.

As he disappeared the warlock and the angel turned to Chuck.

"Wait, I have to say goodbye." she said and ran to Emerson, hugging him. The big man seemed uncomfortable but reluctantly returned the hug.

Then she ran to Ned. Merlin almost shouted at her to be careful but stopped when she saw her pick up a plastic wrap along the way.

With one swift move Chuck moved the wrap over her face and pressed her lips to Ned's. They weren't technically touching but that didn't mean the kiss was any less real.

"Why are they kissing like that? Is that the custom of this land?" Castiel asked tilting his head in attempt to understand.

"They can't touch or the dead girl becomes one really dead girl. Got it, wing-boy?" Emerson supplied an explanation smiling smugly at the angel. While he didn't feel any ill feelings at the "transportation" that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy poking fun at him.

Castiel glared at the man, he should teach this rude man about politeness and why angels deserved respect but now was not the time, he had to transport Chuck.

Meanwhile Chuck ended the kiss and with a short "bye" ran back to the warlock and angel.

Ned watched her go and then, in a blink of an eye she was gone.

With Chuck gone Castiel turned to Merlin and moved to transport him when the warlock stopped him.

"Wouldn't it be better if we went together?" he asked.

"I am not sure about that. Your magic helped me transport other remotely. But transporting together is different; your magic could interfere in an unpredictable way." Castiel explained and moved again to transport the warlock.

But again Merlin stopped him.

"Then how about this? We transport together and when we get there I use my magic to lend you power? You would recover quicker and feel the exhaustion only one time, not twice." he suggested.

Castiel thought for a moment and nodded. Then he pressed his fingers on Merlin's forehead and they both disappeared from the diner, leaving only two people in the diner. Emerson who, while eating his pie tried to look unaffected still felt how empty the diner had become and Ned, who continued to bake the pies to keep his worries at bay.


	20. Chapter 20

AN: Sorry for the long break, I couldn't quite get the hang of the routine of this year. And my flash where I had saved most of the story (including this and the next chapter) refused to cooperate with me. I'm still not sure of when I'll start updating more regularly, looks like I have a crazy amount of stuff to do this year (by year I mean study year, not just 3 months :D ). So, sorry for the break, lateness and uncertainty for the future updates. One thing that is for sure is that I will update, no quitting for this story :)

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When Clara opened her eyes she was welcomed with a beautiful view. Looking around she saw a beautiful forest. But it wasn't like any forest she had ever seen before. This forest was green, bright green and the ground was covered with flowers of every possible colour. As she was admiring the view Arthur appeared next to her, making her jump a bit.

''This is even more beautiful than the hill we saw when we first came here." were the first words that came from Arthur's lips as he gazed around.

Clara didn't say anything; she simply nodded and crouched down to see the beautiful flowers closer.

"This is the orangest orange I have ever seen. This world has the most unique look. It would be a real shame if they lost their colours." Clara showed the flower to the king. "Now, where is this portal?" she said putting the flower in her hair and placed her hands on her hips.

While they both looked around trying to spot anything unusual Chuck appeared next to them.

"I love your flower, Clara." she smiled at the girl. Then she too began to look around for the portal to the mystery world.

"There it is!" Arthur pointed to a small bush in the distance right at the same time as Merlin and Castiel appeared.

Castiel looked less exhausted than he had been before. Actually, Merlin's magic had worked wonders on the angel. The tired expression had disappeared from his face and something baring resemblance to relief had replaced it.

The two had appeared without making a sound so the rest of the group focused on the direction that Arthur had pointed. Only Merlin noticed the change in the angel and smiled proudly. Castiel returned the smile and both of them began to follow the others.

Clara, Chuck and Arthur were already making their way to a bush that seemed different than the rest of the area. Everyone, except for the angel who had seen it before, had their eyes fixed on the bush, though there was no reason for fear of its disappearance. It was almost like the bush was calling to them, like they were under its spell.

As they neared the bush Merlin, walking next to Castiel, noted with surprise that the bush still had colour. Judging by the way the disease had spread through the worlds the warlock expected the whole forest to be colourless and stinking. But the only change was the brightness of the bush. All the trees and grass and nature in general in this world had been in bright and very striking colours. This bush definitely was different. Its colours were mellower, they seemed toned down.

"Why are the colours different? Shouldn't they have disappeared? The book said nothing about changing colours, only disappearing." Clara asked no one in particular.

"Perhaps that is how the portals are supposed to look unaffected. We just never knew it because the only portals we have seen have already been infected." Castiel supplied an answer.

Everyone in the group, except for Merlin, turned around. They hadn't noticed the angel's appearance because of being entranced by the bush.

By now they had already reached the bush and Clara had spread the leaves to make sure the portal really was there. As soon as the portal became visible the pull stopped and every stood around it unsure of what to do. They felt uncertain because the portal didn't act like all the others had, the pull had actually stopped upon seeing the portal, it was the complete opposite of what they had gotten used to.

Arthur saw this as the opportunity to put his leadership skills to use.

"I know we all feel the absence of the pull. It is making us, even me, wonder if this portal is really the same as all the others." Everyone around him nodded in agreement.

"But I also know that this portal is our only chance of saving our worlds. Safe or not, same or not, we have to go through it, if we don't all is lost. The fate of worlds rests on our shoulders. Are we going to let this influence us? Or are we going to charge ahead and save everything and everyone?" the king continued. The words had inspired the group and uncertainty disappeared from their faces.

"Fine, now we have to decide who goes first. I think it should be Castiel, as he has both the skills to face danger and the knowledge about the world." He proposed to the group seeing the change in them.

"Wait, I have the same knowledge about the world as he does. Do you mean to tell me I can't handle the danger?" Clara was offended.

"I am sure you can handle danger very well. I just mean his ability to appear and disappear at will. Do you have any magical skills?" Arthur asked the girl, genuinely curious, he hadn't asked the girl this before, even though they had talked for a long time the subject had never come up.

"No, I don't. Ok, you have a point." Clara agreed and let Arthur move on with his plan.

The rest of the group agreed to the angel going first. Without really meaning to they moved around in a way to put Castiel at the beginning of an uneven line.

Merlin smiled at this; back at Camelot the knights too had always followed Arthur's orders before he had said them. Merlin moved to the end of the line. After spending as many years with the king as he had, the warlock guessed he would also want to strengthen the end of the group.

Arthur flashed a smile at his friend who had understood him without saying anything and shifted the members of the group around, placing himself in the middle.

But as soon as he had done it he felt uncomfortable. He knew the order he had put them in was the safest – the two strongest, in this case, the two with the most magical abilities, guarding the group from both sides – the mysterious world and this world. The uneasy feeling that had come from the fact that he, the king, the leader, the one who actually led the attacks and expeditions in Camelot, was in a position with small influence. Even though it was the safest order he felt like a coward hiding behind his friends.

Standing behind him Chuck noticed how the man sighed unhappily.

"Hey, come on, Nelson Mandela once said "Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front."" she said and nudged the man.

"Those are wise words; I will try to remember them when I get back to Camelot. Who is this Nelson Mandela? Was he a leader of this world?" Arthur asked immediately feeling better.

"Well, not of this exactly of this country. I'll tell you more when we don't have worlds to save." Chuck laughed and turned towards the portal.

Castiel had been watching the exchange from the front of the line. "It looks like you have finished your conversation and everyone is in the right order." He looked at Arthur, who nodded in agreement.

"Now, if there are no more pressing matters I think we should hurry up and enter the portal to this "Land of Mystery"" he said flatly and turned towards the portal.

The angel spread the leaves and stepped through the portal.

The rest of the group looked at each other and moved closer to the bush. Clara, Arthur, Chuck, and, lastly, Merlin disappeared in the portal. All that was left behind was flattened flowers where the group had stood.


End file.
